Painting Sakura
by jasmin flower
Summary: After the end of the Akatsuki, how will Sakura get on with her life? And why does she seem to know things that she shouldn't? SakuSai eventually M for later chaps, bad at reviews! R
1. prologue

Hey all! I was making another story, but I decided to slightly alter the story that I was originally planning with Demon within. Believe it or not, Gaara wasn't the right guy to tell the story with, which I wouldn't have even thought back then!

Warning, I have a tendency to curse a little, I'm getting a bit more violent and I'm addicted to lemons. This is kind of funny, since I'm actually allergic to lemons lmao! (Well, all citrus, but lemons are in that group...)

This won't start way too fast, I'm trying to learn to pace myself a little, but I'm not sure that I'll succeed quite yet!

Prologue-

Sakura sat on the earth, feeling the numbness slowly take her over. Fighting surrounded her, her friends yelled and screamed and died, but she couldn't get her legs to move, or her head to turn. He'd always said that his whole purpose to life was to kill his brother, which he'd done. Now he had attacked Konoha, Obito was in the fight for his life against a irate Kakashi. No one had realized it was him. No one realized that Obito was using his one good eye to alter their heads, changing the image to that of Madara, Using such a powerful name to take revenge against those that had abandoned him as a youth. If only he knew how much of his life Kakashi had wasted at that shrine...

Sakura didn't care about any of that now, not that Sai was bleeding profusely from his back, continuing his own assault against the Akatsuki army of however many were left now, as Kisame had backed away after discovering the truth about Pein and Madara. He would have fought for Madara, but not this fake. Somewhere out there the real Madara waited, and he was going to get to him before anyone else. The girl that had swooned on Sasuke's shoulder, letting Sakura know that he belonged to her was now dead somewhere behind her, but the only thing she cared about was the face before her. He looked so peaceful lying there. His eyes looking at her. He smiled before he died. She broke the strain in her head, a terrified scream echoing across the field and Obito looked at her, then to his newest set of eyes. He frowned, his only hope now that he could reclaim his own eye and maybe Kakashi would have used it enough to make him immortal, but that hope was dashed to threads as Kakashi ran him through before running to Sakura's side.

He grabbed her and flew from the scene, her arms reaching out, trying to grasp the still frame of the last Uchiha, the only one she'd ever loved.

"SASUKE!!" Kakashi dropped her on the roof of a nearby building and leaped back to battle. He'd mourn or laugh or whatever over Obito's loss again later.

It was not till later that day that the battle was over, Naruto sitting in the center of the field, his eyes still glazed over, Tsunade doing her best to keep him alive after the Kyuubi had been ripped out of him, his own best friend had grabbed the Kyuubi and had freed him, taking over the boy's body. Sasuke never would have guessed that the demon's first attack would have been himself. Or that within minutes Sakura would stab a kunai straight through his heart. He had looked at her. Sakura raised her hands over her eyes, sobs stuck in her chest, constricting it to the point where she couldn't breathe. He'd looked at her and smiled, poking her in the forehead. "Thank you." Sakura didn't know what had happened till his hand dropped, his smile now permanently etched across his face. She looked down at her hands, still grabbing the kunai. Her fingers widened over her eyes, seeing the field below her. It was real... It had all been real...

"NOO!!" She jumped from the roof, running over to the body of the man she'd loved and grabbed his shoulder. "You come back to me! You bastard! You can't die that easily! You come back!!" Tsunade looked her way for an instant, the obvious pain in her eyes. She knew what that felt like.

Kakashi walked over to her, finally deciding that the attackers were as dead as they were going to get. "Sakura, I'm sorry." He lifted his headband for the last time that day and as she turned to him, she passed into a deep sleep.

I know, really short for me, I'm hoping to get out another chapter tonight! Let me know what you think! R&R!!

Laterz!

jasminflower69


	2. Chapter 1

Hey all! I'm doing my best to not type faster than my brain works, Thank god for spell checkers! I promise you two things with this fic, firstly, that this time I WILL explain what's going on with Sakura, and secondly, that I won't forget another disclaimer! I actually had a friend say that the only part of my fics she read was the disclaimers, as they're apparently that amusing and the thought of my lemons was a bit too much for her. She kept imagining me as the girl, and apparently threw up afterwards.

Gomen, Micheru!

Also, The first few chapters will be a little dark. That hopefully won't last too incredibly long.

Chapter 1

Sakura woke with a start, her eyes twitching around the room, terror still filled her head. She looked around, hoping that this was all fake, that it was a genjutsu, and that it wasn't really a year since she'd...

He ran to the bathroom, throwing up whatever she'd eaten the night before. Her head was spinning so quickly she could have been calmer on the tilt a whirl of doom. She vaguely remembered the last year, a blur of tears, of feeling herself delve farther than she'd ever imagine to darkness. After all that time they'd fought so hard to bring him back, she never would have imagined that she'd survive this long without the hopes for him. He was dead, and she was alive, no matter what the ones who knew her said. She was here without him.

Her sobs seemed to scream from her throat, the echo in the small room was deafening. It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair...

She stayed like that nearly the whole day. Screamed cries in her bathroom, as she didn't have the strength to stand. She knew that Naruto, Sai and Kakashi had come by, that they had heard her and left without a word, but she didn't care. She just didn't care anymore. It was evident in the fact that she'd been hospitalized at least once a month for passing out due to the fact that she regularly forgot to eat. She'd become thin and frail, barely a shell of the bright, young, inspired student that she used to be. It wasn't until about four that she stood, only enough to brush her teeth and go back to bed. She wasn't going anywhere today, they couldn't make her.

She woke early the next morning, rolling from her bed and sighed, headed to the bathroom. She had to see them today or else they'd come by and drag her out, if even in her 'jammies.

She headed to the shrine, then past it to the place that kept him forever young, forever still... She knew now why Kakashi was always late. She'd seen him here so many times, looking at the name Obito on the monolith, and it made her want to laugh. He'd finally died, Kakashi killed him. All those years that he'd wasted here, and now he came to share a drink with Asuma, telling him about his beautiful little girl.

Sakura traced her fingers over the name on the marker. Uchiha Sasuke. She smiled, thinking over the fun that they'd had, the times that she'd cried over him, the day that he'd left and had chosen this fate for himself. She wanted to prove her worth, and she did. She proved that she was enough to kill one of the most sought after kekkei genkai. The whole clan rested on his shoulders and now it was her burden to bear. "Sasuke, I'm so sorry..."

**You did it yourself, so stop moping. You're not human enough to hold the emotion that you portray.**

Sakura sighed at the inner voice and nodded. It was true and she knew it. She wasn't human. She was something far worse. She stood, her fingers lovingly caressing the corner of the marble as she turned to walk away. She froze at the faces that looked at her. "I knew you'd be here." Naruto nearly whispered, walking up and pulling her in for a hug. She sighed, turning again to the marker and shook her head. "Naruto, what have I become..." She whimpered as the voice answered. **'you're a demon. A monster. Don't try and fool yourself. You're more of a demon than Naruto.' **Sakura sighed and nodded, turning and looking again at the sunshine that seemed to erupt over the headband of the young man beside her. She looked down to the sky blue of his eyes, noticing the look of something that unsettled him. "Sakura, we have a mission." She nodded and turned back to the marker. "I'll be back soon."

It was a little later that day that she jumped from tree to tree. Naruto kept his eyes on her as they ran. She didn't wear the red anymore. Not since that day. She wore black now, as it didn't show the blood that the red did. No matter who's blood it was it reminded her of his.

Her black pants and shirt were loose, like the outfits that Kakashi wore, only without the green jonin jacket to accompany. The kunai were strapped tightly to her leg and she kept her and on it, holding them silent as they ran. They couldn't be seen. She didn't want to be seen. Not today. Not yesterday. Maybe tomorrow she'd feel up to it, but he didn't want anyone to see her. She knew that Naruto kept his eyes on her, and that Sai kept looking at her, as if he trying to figure something out. There was only one way to deal with this, and she'd been at it for about a year. Just close yourself off. Don't let it out. There's one day a year that she reserved for showing her emotion, her pains, and that was yesterday. Today, she would be a wall. No matter how hard you tried, it didn't show it's weakness, it's pain, unless it was broken. Sakura shook her head a little at the thought. **You are broken. Who are you trying to fool? **She froze from her branch, holding out her hand to alert the others.

Below them were the team that they were supposed to... dissuade from entering Konoha. Kakashi jumped down before them as the others scattered to the corners. "Are you from the mist?" Kakashi asked calmly and the leader of the team grinned, pulling out his kitana. It dropped nearly instantly and he turned, noticing the pink hair of the kunoichi leaning against the tree behind him. Kakashi frowned. She was supposed to stay hidden. She leaned back, putting another senbon in her teeth, before sighing, bored. "You two are going to stop us, huh?" The group of six laughed and as the leader jumped at her Sakura blew, shooting the senbon through his eye, through to the back of his skull. She heard the small familiar ping of metal shooting through brain matter and looked up as the rest of the team froze, seeing the blood and gray ooze from the man's head. They were even more surprised that Sakura, this cute little girl's response was to get another senbon and wait.

They turned to Kakashi and shook their heads. "We'll head back." The second, now first, nearly whimpered before turning and running as fast as they could. It had been about a day out, and Sakura knew that after an hour or so they'd be sleeping under the stars. At least she'd be able to say hi to Sasuke again tomorrow.

"Kakashi!" They turned, seeing a familiar face rushing towards them, first smiling at the senbon hanging from Sakura's lip and then to the body before them. "Fuck! Kakashi, what did you do to him?!" Kakashi shook his head as Genma noticed the senbon protruding from his face. The man stepped back, suddenly noticing the light didn't seem to meet her eyes in the sunshiny day. He cocked his head, noticing the oddity as it shone brightly in everyone else's eye. "We're on another mission. We got this just after you left, and Tsunade felt that we should take it." Kakashi's eyebrow lifted lightly. "We?" Genma nodded, handing the scroll to the older nin. "Yeah, we. I'm on this mission too." Kakashi looked over the scroll and frowned. "This is an S class. It's nearly suicidal. I can't agree to this, not with them." He looked over to Sai, Naruto then Sakura. Sakura raised her hand. "I'm in." Naruto looked over at her nervously, Sai nodded lightly. "Me too."

**Aw! Now you're trying to commit suicide for your country! How cute! Maybe you'll end up next to him before Ino can. **Sakura frowned, shaking the voice from her head. It used to tell her inner most thought, but over the last year it became disfigured, mocking and seemed to keep her in check, but this time she wasn't going to listen. "Where are we going?" Kakashi looked over the scroll. "It's about half a day to the north east. A small village has taken some of the artifacts from the Hokage's castle. They're asking a ransom, but it looks like Tsunade doesn't want to give it to them."

"The lost village?" Sakura looked at the copy nin and he nodded. "Yes, very good. Now, Naruto, you and Genma head back." Genma frowned, glaring at him. "Kakashi, I'm going. I didn't come a day away from the village to walk Naruto back. It's clear out, and he'll be fine on his own."

"He can barely find his way out of his apartment. If I send him back alone we may never see him again." Naruto frowned. "Kakashi sensei, I'm not that bad..." He knew that he was, and it was evident on his face. "Fine." Kakashi whipped out his scroll from his first left breast pocket, biting his thumb and pressing it to the center in a second. "Pakkun, Take Naruto to the Hokage. He has to tell her that the first mission was completed, and we're headed on the second." She spoke this more to Naruto than to the poor dog, who sighed and looked over at the blonde. "I may not be able to sniff my way back. This kid's so full of Ramen seasoning that it's coming out of his pores. I'll do my best." Naruto frowned at the dog and they nodded, headed their separate directions.

They stopped to sleep about three hours later, knowing that by now Naruto was probably holding Pakkun while still running. They pulled out their bed rolls and slept under the stars, no fire or tents.

The next morning they ate quickly, packed and headed out.

It was about six hours later that they came upon the small village and Sakura looked down at it. It didn't look like anything more than a house. This was a really small village. "The buildings are all hidden underground, like an underground mall or something. Sakura waited instruction, Sai and Genma beside her. "We head in through this hidden passage." Kakashi held out a map and they looked over the structure, trying their best to memorize it. Sakura knew that the map was incomplete, but didn't know how she had any idea, nodding. "Do we know where the items are?" Kakashi frowned. "It should be in one of these two rooms." He pointed to two rooms in the back, causing a nod from everyone. "We stay together. If any of us are discovered, there's more of a chance of survival if we're together, as there's really no way to escape and anyone else will be found out nearly instantly." They nodded and Kakashi raised his hand as he flipped the scroll closed, throwing it into his bag. "Go."

The adrenaline hit her before she even had the chance to step. They flew to the south corner, quickly finding the hidden door and running in. They froze as they looked around, seeing the place was a bit larger than the map showed. The people weren't everywhere, a small child here, a nin there, and they were pretty much able to keep at bay. When they reached the room before the two they found a secretary watching over the rooms and Kakashi nodded, stepping out to her. "Excuse me." The woman looked up startled, but was instantly caught in Kakashi's eye, falling to the desk before her. Kakashi motioned his hands that Sai and Sakura were to head to the left room and he and Genma were to head to the other. They did what they were told quickly.

Sakura closed the door behind her. She turned, looking around, seeing no guards and stepped forwards, looking for anything that had the Konoha leaf on it. It wasn't long till she found it. Two small boxes and a scroll which were easily stowed in her bag. She pointed and Sai nodded, knowing what was happening. They eased to the door, opening it a crack to see a woman standing at the desk, calling for backup for a possible break in. They'd been found. Sakura shrugged, punching down the wall between them and the others. "We've been found. Let's go." Kakashi's eye widened at the words, as did Genma's but Sakura was the pillar of indifference and turned to the door, punching it hard enough to render the visiting nin unconscious, if she was lucky. They ran at this point, noticing the crowd of nin that were examining the door at the other side, Kakashi grabbed her arm and pulled her over to a door at the side, the others following. "They're covering the door. We can't get out." Sakura turned around, seeing the walkway behind them. "This way." She whispered before dashing off. They followed, not seeing any other way than to hope that this was better than death at the hands of the nin outside.

Sakura ran ahead, the corridor eventually breaking to a fork. Kakashi sighed. "This isn't on the map. I don't know which way to go, if any." Sakura felt an odd air of familiarity here, but didn't have time to be too curious about it. **Left.** She nodded and ran ahead, the others catching up to her after a second. "Why this way?" Genma asked and Sakura smiled back at him. "Just doing what the voice in my head tells me." Genma swallowed hard, letting Sai get between them. There were a few forks after that, but the voice spoke as soon as they'd gotten to them, Sakura didn't stop for a second. They were a little surprised when after the fifth fork there was a small door. **It's the exit. Run.** Sakura nodded and threw open the door, headed out to the sunlight. They were far enough away after an hour that they stopped to catch their breath. Kakashi stared at her, far beyond curious and unable to keep his headband down. "Sakura, how did you know how to get out? That was nearly a maze." Sakura shrugged, pointing at her head. "It's a girl's intuition. You should pay more attention to it." His face turned to nearly a snarl at the remark, not at her, but the way she seemed to not even care about any of this. She patted her bag and looked up. "Oh, by the way, mission was a success. We can head back." Kakashi had no intention of headed back, even if they hadn't found the items.

"Sakura, don't play with us. How did you know which way to go?" Sakura shrugged. "As I told Genma, just doing what the voice in my head told me." Kakashi jumped up, the Sharingan in his head spinning faster and faster as he tried to see anything that wasn't there before. "You've never seen anything of interest in me before, don't start up now." Sakura frowned, the eyes seemed to carve further into her shortening patience. She stood and took off towards the village at light speed.

They were there just after nightfall the following night. They stood before the Hokage, the items laid out neatly at her desk. "You all did very well. I was actually surprised that you were able to get them." Kakashi frowned, looking over at Sakura wearily for about the tenth time that day. "We wouldn't have made it if it weren't for the voice in Sakura's head." Tsunade smiled up at him, noticing the serious look on his face. "What, that wasn't a joke?" She looked over at Sakura who shrugged. "I've always had it. It's my women's intuition, that's all." Tsunade nodded, shrugging. Though her intuition had told her many things no one had ever referred to it as a voice in her head. Either way, it worked. "Sakura, good going. Not enough men believe in the power of women's intuition." Sakura nearly smiled, knowing she'd won the fight about the voice right then and there. "Hai, Sensei. Men..." Tsunade grinned, waving her hand in dismissal. Sakura nodded and turned, as did Sai. Sakura turned, seeing Kakashi and Genma step towards her desk instead and shrugged. It wasn't her fight anymore, and she had a marker to visit.

It was the next day that Sakura awoke early, Kakashi at her door. "We need to talk." His tone was more forceful than she'd ever heard and if she wasn't so pissed to be dragged out of bed this early for a 'chat' then she would have been downright terrified. "What is it?"

"That voice you talked about, your intuition, you've always had it?" Sakura nodded. "It's my inner voice. It used to say everything that I was to afraid to say out loud. Now, I don't care what others think about me, or what I say. Now it speaks differently." Kakashi noticed the dark aura that seemed to surround her at those words. The voice wasn't a good thing anymore and he knew it. "Sakura, what does it say?" She turned, now downright terrifying. "What in the hell does it matter to you? You don't really care! You just want to know how I knew something that you don't!"

"Sakura! It's not-" Kakashi stepped back, the aura around her darkening, the circles under her eyes deepening. She was almost inhuman like this. "Yes, Kakashi! I always knew that you didn't like me much, not as powerful as Naruto, Not as strong as..." She froze, the name nearly escaped her lip, but she stopped instead. "Get out." Kakashi sighed, trying to figure out what to do to get her to open up. "Sakura, if you want to talk, if you want to relive the old days, Anything, please, call me." He turned, headed out of the door. He knew better than to risk his existence in this situation. He stopped just off of the stairs that led down from her floor and stopped, barely able to keep himself still. He was nearly shaking. She didn't realize how hard it was for him as well. She wasn't the only one who lost Sasuke, He was just as attached to him, just not in the same way. Kakashi knew that he would never have children, Sasuke was the one he'd chosen. The one he taught his techniques to. Sasuke was like a son to him.

He lost one child, and he began to fear now that he was about to lose a second one. He had to do something. They had to get her back from this before it killed her. For a second he was tempted to go up and use his Sharingan to alter her memories, To make it that Sasuke left for a trip or something, and that he was still alive somewhere. He sighed, pressing his fingers to his forehead, as if hiding his eyes. He had to do something...

It was only a second before he was at Tsunade's door. Tsunade looked up at him, frowning. "I told you to give me until ten. It's barely eight, Kakashi." Kakashi nodded, but the seriousness on his face changed the mind of the older nin in kicking him out. "What's wrong?"

"Sakura's getting darker. Tsunade, I've never seen her this bad. It keeps getting worse. Every time I see her she's slipped a little further away from us. I'm getting to the point of fear that she'll die..." This wasn't what the older nin had wanted to hear. "I almost used my Sharingan to change her memories, that he was still alive somewhere, but I really couldn't take something like that away from her, the last farewell to her first love. I don't know what to do though." Tsunade shrugged, returning her look to the paper. "Well, either we can drug her, or we can try and use some form of chakra therapy." She looked up, her look now a bit devious. "Or we can send you out to look for a holy grail. Don't think that it would do much good if you don't find something within fifty years or so, though." Kakashi frowned. "Chakra therapy... that might actually work... When can you do it?" Kakashi was looking a bit more hopeful than Tsunade could have thought and her eyes widened at the look of fear in his eyes. "Is she really that bad?" Kakashi nodded, turning away slightly, looking down at the floor. Tsunade nodded. "In that case, there's someone else here who's better at it than me. Let me get him." Kakashi nodded. By this time he was ready to try anything to get his sweet Sakura back, anything but this demonic entity that she'd become.

He was surprised when Tsunade came in a few minutes later with Neji. "Kakashi-san." He nodded as pleasantly as he could, while Kakashi did the same in turn. "Neji." They both turned to Tsunade who looked over at them and began scribbling down a message as fast as she could. "Give this to her, she'll know that she can't fight me." Kakashi wondered at this remark, as it didn't seem as if Sakura cared much about anything anymore. "Neji, report to me afterwards, tell me anything you see, anything out of the ordinary, anything at all that you can about the situation." Neji nodded and turned to Kakashi, figuring he had some clue here as to what was going on. Kakashi waved for Neji to follow and they flew from the window as it was faster.

Nya nya!! Yes, I stopped there! Muahahahahaha!! I'm going to begin on the next chappy as soon as I have this one up though, so I'm hoping to get it out either tonight, or tomorrow morning!

(By the way, the random cheery picking at the end is due to Love Shine, the DDR song! I love this song!!)

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	3. Chapter 2

Hey! I'm back all! New and refreshed! This DDR music is making me type really fast! Or maybe it's the three Amps I've drank today... Either way I feel GREAT and LOVE my spell checker! I'm getting about every tenth word wrong! That's a lot for me!

Anyway, on to the story!

Disclaimer- that nagging bitch over my shoulder that tells me that this earns me no money or rights to anything more important than bragging rites over friends who recently got over ten reviews! I'm hoping to beat that a lot with this one! Maybe fifteen? That would be nice.

Chapter 2

Sakura was pissed. Not only did Kakashi return, but he brought in reinforcements? She didn't even think about her actions, in one fluid movement she had Kakashi by the throat, even Neji noticed the dark dullness that seemed to radiate into her eyes. The green turned to a gray, and Kakashi reached up quickly, uncovering his Sharingan. "Sakura! What's going on with you?!" He pulled her hand away and she growled, backing away a little. "Stop prodding in other people's lives! You don't even like me! What does it mean to you when I say FUCK OFF?!" Neji frowned, jumping forwards, paper in hand. She froze, the green returning to her eye and she looked down at the paper. "You got Tsunade to go behind my back..." Kakashi reached forwards, without thinking and pulled her into a hug. "Sakura, we're all worried about you. You're hearing voices that you've never mentioned before, you're attacking me, you're pushing everyone away. We're afraid that you're going to close yourself off completely and die. Sakura, believe it or not, there isn't a single person I know that doesn't like you. You're like a daughter to me. I've seen you grow from a cute little girl into a young woman, and I can't bear to see you like this..." Sakura froze, the words cutting into her. "I'm sorry..." Kakashi backed up, his hands still on her shoulders. "Please, try this for me? It shouldn't take too long, right, Neji?" Neji stared at the oddity of this whole situation and nearly ran. "What am I going to do?" Kakashi frowned. "Tsunade didn't tell you?" Neji shook his head, his eyes never leaving Sakura's. "Tsunade said you were the best in Konoha at Chakra therapy." Neji sighed. Of course he was the best, not only could he alter the flow, but he could hit it so quickly that a year's worth could be done in minutes. "Fine, let me see what we're working with...Byakugan..."

His fingers hit his eyes as blood shot to them. She seemed to double then reform, each version of her altering as they recombined. She had chakra, all right. Massive amounts. It seemed to be altering in a few pathways, but none of them should be bringing out the damage that he'd just witnessed. There was a small lodge in her head. Maybe that was the problem, but he wasn't completely sure, nor could he be till he actually tried it...

He looked her over, noticing that around her neck the flow seemed to be changing as he watched. It changed direction, swirling into nearly a cone in her neck, headed down to her heart. He stepped forwards, surprised as he looked up, her arm against his hand. "That's close enough. Tell Tsunade that I refuse." Neji continued to look at the chakra as it drowned farther into her heart. "Back off, Neji!" She growled and Neji shook his head. "Not now, Sakura. You need help." Kakashi almost stopped breathing at those words. "Kakashi, grab her as soon as I let go." He jumped behind her, pulling her arms down to her sides and pushed her into Kakashi who grabbed as soon as he realized what had happened. Instead of working immediately Neji just watched as Sakura became more enraged, Eventually her whole heart was caught in the cone. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the chakra slightly changed, the tilt of the spiral altered in one area and opened to an eye that just stared out at him angrily. "Sakura, I'll do what I can, but we really need to get you into a hospital. I think you have something in you." Sakura laughed. "There's a few things in me, Neji. Lungs, a brain, bones..." Neji wasn't amused by the ill timed joke as she seemed to be mentally breaking down. "Kakashi-sensei, let me go!" She began to fight as the eye closed and the cone seemed to draw back to her neck. Neji jumped forwards, attacking the chakra flow through her neck, cutting off all chakra to her body. The swirl stayed still, causing Neji to step back. "It's impossible..." Kakashi stared at him, holding her still to him. "What is?"

"I just cut off her chakra, but it's still there. No matter how good her chakra control is, she shouldn't be able to do this." Kakashi looked down at the kunoichi who was now feral in her fighting and growling against him. "Neji, turn it back on. There's something wrong!" Neji flung his fingers forwards, battering the back of her neck and head with hits, many more than what were used to stop the chakra in the first place. He did everything in his power to dislodge the small chunk in her head, and after a few seconds it shifted, breaking into her blood stream. Sakura froze, her eyes becoming unsteady as she laid her head against Kakashi's chest. Neji watched as the piece moved down to her heart, he nearly stopped breathing till it continued to her arm, where Neji grabbed at her finger. He bit it quickly, pushing till the small shard fell to his hand. He looked up at her as she lost consciousness.

Kakashi ran over, laying her down on her bed and came back out, seeing Neji holding something in his hand, looking it over. "What is that?" Neji looked up, horrified. "This is the reason she wasn't able to get Sasuke out of her head. It's a piece of him." Kakashi felt his stomach turn at the words. "What?"

"She's been getting worse and worse since then. This is the reason why. This is a piece of bone fragment from him. I bet it got in through her neck, that would tell me some of the reasons for the unusual chakra. She's quite literally been haunted by him, as he was in her head." He held up the small white piece of bone, causing Kakashi to turn his head. "No, Neji, please, just, let's get it buried with the rest of him." Neji nodded, grasping to the bone piece as if it were the most dear thing in the world. He knew it was Sasuke's, it still had his chakra signature on it. Sakura, though, she might want it. She may want to keep the piece of him that stayed with her all this time. He wouldn't tell Kakashi about this thought, though. He turned, walking from the room. "Kakashi, I'm going to report and take care of this. Please, stay with her till she wakes, and bandage her finger. If she gets any worse, please come and get me." Kakashi sighed, knowing that Neji had done the best that he could. "Thank you so much." Kakashi bowed and Neji ran from the room.

He wasn't about to tell anyone but the Hokage about what he'd just seen, or what he believed.

It was about an hour later that Sakura groaned, causing Kakashi to sit straight up and watch as she turned to him, her eyes still dizzy. "What in the hell?!" She sat up, quickly placing her hand beside her to keep balanced. "Neji found something and had to go tell the Hokage. How do you feel?" She watched him for a moment before sighing. "Hungry." Kakashi grinned. She was at least a little more herself.

They walked to the training grounds a few days later. It was the first time in about three days that Kakashi had seen her, as she threw him out to get a shower. She was wearing a dark purple dress, not too unlike what Ino wore, but hers was different in the way it was cut. It was fully around, cutting off about a hand length under her hip, black shorts under it, the purple tank top was a little tighter than Kakashi would have liked, but at least it showed that she'd put on a few pounds. She didn't look as sick anymore. The fishnet sleeve went nearly to her wrist on her left side, and Kakashi could bet that she was getting fashion hints from Temari, who was hanging out quite a bit with Shikamaru. "So, Kakashi sensei, what are we doing today? Training, a mission or three, or is this just observation? Tsunade won't let me work at the hospital till she deems me no longer mentally handicapped." She rolled her eyes at the term, a smile playing at her lip. This was when Kakashi noticed the locket around her neck, a small silver heart that had been welded shut. "What's that?" Sakura looked down, holding the locket to her chest sadly. "Neji said I could keep it. It's the piece that was in me. I almost feel like he's been with me for the last year, I just didn't know it." She nearly smiled as she held the locket and Kakashi sighed. He had been so worried that she'd freak out when she learned of the last bit of him... Her face quickly changed to a grin as they passed Iruka and she waved, causing her old sensei to stare, seeing her and Kakashi so close, and her with that sudden grin...

"Kakashi you sick bastard!" After that little misunderstanding had been taken care of they continued to the fighting grounds. Kakashi was surprised to find that neither Naruto or Sai had heard about the situation with her and they both stared at her grin as she walked up. "Hey guys!" Naruto's breath caught in his throat as he watched her laugh at their faces. "Sakura, are you really back?" She looked at him and frowned, her head cocked. "I was never gone." Naruto jumped up, grabbing her shoulders. "You know what I mean! Are you really... Is this real? Are you back to who you used to be?" Sakura smiled, noticing the glint of forming tears in his eyes. "I'm out of my depression, if that's what you mean. I'm finally happy, don't cry, alright?" She wiped at his eye and Naruto pulled her into a hug. "Oh, thank god, I was so worried about you..." She frowned, pulling him back and looking him in the eye. "Naruto, I'm sorry I've been such a bitch for the last while, My chakra was messed up, and I had a problem in my brain..." She instinctively reached for the locket, catching Naruto's eye. "Who gave you that?" Sakura sighed, holding it up in her hand. "It was from Neji. It's what was lodged in my brain." She decided that Naruto had enough to deal with for one day without hearing about the chunk of Sasuke's remains that were now tied around her neck. Naruto looked at the thing and frowned. "You actually had something in your brain?! Sakura, did it hurt?" She laughed, holding up her bandaged finger. "It hurt when he bit me! He actually bit me to get it out! I may have a permanent Neji hickey on my finger!" She laughed, as Naruto cringed. "Let's hope not. You're a med nin, you can get rid of things like that, right?" Sakura laughed at how serious he took her having a hickey. She was surprised when Sai walked up to her, frowning. "Sakura," he stopped, unable to think of words. After a moment he slid on one of his fake smiles, clapping his hand on her shoulder. "Sakura." His smile changed a little and for a split second Sakura thought that it might be real.

"Hey! We have some make up practice to do today! We're going to spar for a few hours, then we may do a little fighting!" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Wow, how exiting. Sakura's back and we spend the day trying to hurt her. Welcome back Sakura! Thwap!" She grinned at him, then turned quickly, the speed and change in demeanor caused them all to turn to the approaching Neji. He froze for a moment before proceeding slowly. "Sakura, how do you feel?" She reached up, poking and prodding at her arm. "Warm and a little less squishy than I should." Neji stared at her, surprised at how fast her whole sense of self had changed. "We're all on call today and tomorrow. I'll let Tsunade-sama know where you all are." They nodded and watched as Neji walked away a little before turning and activating his Byakugan. He watched for a moment and Sakura frowned, noticing his eyes were on her alone. She covered her chest with her arms and shouted at him. "Pervert! Be a little more covert when peeping!" Naruto chuckled a little and Sai looked over at her, not entirely sure he'd heard that right. "Sakura, are you alright?" He asked, walking up and putting his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, her eyes curious. "Why?"

"You were never this happy. You're overdoing it." Sakura frowned, looking down. "Damn it, Sai, Why couldn't you just be happy with the way I'm being?" Naruto winced, realizing she was faking the extra pep and cheer to try and keep them happy. Sai shook his head. "I'd prefer to see how you're really doing. This is fake, it's not the real you." Sakura nodded, turning away. She had the other two fooled, she could tell by the way their faces looked so guilty now. They so badly wanted her to be happy that they didn't even think about the chance that it wasn't real. "Fine, I guess I'll have to start over." This time her voice was a little more than a whisper. Sai nodded, smiling at her again, this time not real at all. Neji noticed the change in demeanor and knew that something had happened with Sakura, as they all watched her now. He stood and walked back over.

Kakashi frowned, suddenly very unhappy with himself for not questioning this. "Why didn't you just come out as yourself?" Sakura sighed, sitting on the sunny grass. "You all wanted me to be happy, and it was fun. It was nice to forget for a little bit, to just not focus on the bad things." Sai nodded. "If you keep pretending to be someone you're not, eventually who you really are will disappear." Sakura looked up at him, a small smile played at the end of her lip. "And you're the expert on being yourself?" Sai shrugged. "I know I used to laugh. I became someone I wasn't and now I can't even remember what it was like to enjoy being myself. I'm completely myself, but at the same time I'm not myself at all. I don't want you to be someone that you're not to make others happy." Neji understood what was happening. "So, Sakura, how are you?" She looked up at him and sighed, laying her chin on her hand. "I'm sad. I'm angry. I'm disoriented about everything that happened the other day and now I feel alone. I didn't even feel this alone before your help." Neji nodded. "I can't make you feel any less alone, Sorry, not my type." Sakura looked up at him, astounded. "OH SHIT!! Neji, was that a joke?!" He shrugged, a light tug at the corner of his mouth told her that he was on the verge of a smile. "I can tell you, on the other hand that Sai is right. Covering up who you really are only makes you less of who you could be." Sakura nodded, looking down.

"I didn't mean to hurt any of you, I just wanted to be as happy as you wanted me to be. I'm sorry." Sai shook his head before the rest of them could respond. "Don't be sorry, you wanted to make the people you care about happy. Just don't do it at the risk of your happiness." Naruto nodded, as did Kakashi. Sakura sighed, smiling at them. "I'll do my best." Sai nodded, almost looking proud of his help in this situation. "Now," Interrupted Kakashi, "Let's get to sparring!"

It was about eight that evening that they stumbled, exhausted and grinning like idiots into Ichiraku. Ayume looked them over and frowned. "Am I going to have to call for security? You all look like you've done something you shouldn't have." Sakura grinned at her, the fire that none of them had seen in a year gleamed brightly in her eyes. "And I'm the only girl." Ayume laughed, shaking her head. "Finally got your sense of humor back I see." Sakura grinned and Naruto laughed. "You know, Sakura, I can be a girl too." Sakura looked over at him, her grin getting bigger. "I don't think you'd be willing to go that far to find out what it would be like, Naruto-chan." Naruto frowned at the honorific and Kakashi smiled, watching them all. It was almost like the old days, Sakura picking on Naruto, the one with the dark hair quiet. He looked down at the locket around Sakura's neck and smiled. In a way he was still here...

Sakura stumbled into her apartment and kicked off her shoes, nearly crashing into her bed. Though she was being herself she felt a lot better than she had for over a year. Maybe, just maybe things would begin to get better for her now. **So now you're truly alone. Now he can't protect you. Now you have to handle everything without his help. **

'I didn't have his help. I was alone, he is dead.'

**But he was in your head. If a piece of him was in you, his blood, if just a drop is in your veins. You had him removed, and now you're alone, your boyfriend is a shard in a locket.**

"Shut up!" She screamed at the voice, the near panic in her voice was the only thing she heard echo from the walls. Her own weakness, her own suffering. "For a year I've been without him. They came to me. They forced me to do whatever I could to become better. I may not have Sasuke, but I'm not alone, Not anymore." She sat and listened for a moment, the voice quieted. She sighed before laying down and falling quickly to sleep.

Hey all! I just discovered that the cute little curly thing under my escape button on the left top button of my keyboard doesn't show up on . Now I may actually have to start using the little line or something. I dunno yet, I'm a little depressed about it. I liked that thing, and have been putting it on my fics for about three years as a divider.

Anyway, If anyone knows anyone on Dattebayo, the fansub group, tell them that we appreciate their work! If you have been putting up episodes that they made on sites like Youtube, Veoh or such, Please take them down! If I can't watch the next few eps because of stupid people, I'm going to spend a lot of time bashing any of the episodes that I can, getting them taken down so that whoever may take the project next doesn't have to deal with this crap!

Jasminflower will be PISSED!!

Thank you all.

jasminflower69


	4. Chapter 3

Hey all! I'm sick today, so don't be surprised if my wording seems scratchy. That will be where I had to stop and wait for the world to stop twirling.

Disclaimer by technical definition means that you're using someone else's idea and altering it slightly for your own purposes, without payment or copy rite. In this instance I'm using the disclaimer to say that even though these things will never happen on the show, manga, whatever, that I can do it here cause I'm not risking payment with this! Muahahaha!

Chapter 3

Sakura stood very uncomfortably before the Hokage. She kept looking up at the woman, who seemed to have a permanent frown etched across her face. "What do you mean you still hear the voice? Don't tell me you weren't joking about that." Sakura sighed, shrugging. "It used to say what was going on in me, if I didn't have the nerve to say what I wanted, it did it for me. It changed, though." Tsunade stood, her hand against her forehead. "So, this was a preexisting condition..." Sakura nodded. Tsunade turned, looking out of the window. "How did it change?"

"It says things now, mean and horrible things." Tsunade turned to her, now a little worried. "Example." Sakura sighed. "Last night it wouldn't let it die that now that the shard of bone is out of my head, I'm really alone. It said that Sasuke was protecting me from within, that I must have a drop of his blood in me, that I was rejecting him by taking the shard out." Tsunade's eyes widened. "Really..." she stood forwards, staring right at Sakura. "Last night, Has it spoken since?" Sakura shook her head. "If it did I was asleep and didn't hear it." Tsunade leaned to the side.

"Sakura, I'm going to do something. I want to try and figure this out. Sit down." Sakura looked over, sitting on the seat beside her. "Shizune!!" She walked in, quickly, Ton-ton at her side. "Should I send him in?" The brunette smiled, happy to see that Sakura wasn't looking so dark anymore. "Yeah, please do." Sakura didn't have to turn, she knew that Neji was behind her. She felt her stomach turn as he walked in, his Byakugan already on.

Sakura felt her skin tingle as goose bumps jumped from her. Tsunade watched as Sakura became visibly uncomfortable for a second, then seemed to relax instantly. She turned and smiled. "Neji! Hi, they bring you in to watch my chakra?" Neji stared at her. She knew it was him, everyone saw her respond to his entry, but she was suddenly calm, acting like she didn't know. "Sakura, did you know it was me before you turned around?" Sakura smirked at him. "No, my ESP is broken this week." He frowned, noting the slight change in attitude. Neji stepped forwards, making sure to give his best intimidating glare watching the chakra start to spin. He waved over Tsunade who stepped around her, watching her face. "Hokage-sama, her eyes." Sakura looked over between them and froze as she noticed the look on Tsunade's face. "Tsunade-sensei, what's wrong?"

Tsunade watched as the gray tones shifted back to green. "Did the voice say anything just then?" Sakura shook her head, fear welling in her. "What's going on?"

"Claustrophobia." Neji spoke to Tsunade, neither looking away from Sakura's sudden fear. "What's happening?"

"Sakura, How do you feel?"

"Do you notice when you start acting like someone else?"

"Do you feel the voice, or just hear it?"

"Does it hurt at all?"

"Do you ever listen to what it tells you to do?"

Sakura could feel their eyes burning into her, they kept getting closer till she could smell Neji, right before her. "Stop!" She closed her eyes, pushing back in her chair. "Sakura, what's wrong?" She felt Neji whisper into her ear and threw out her arms, pushing him away from her. Neji was surprised at the power she had and smiled as he skidded to a halt a few feet away. "Sakura..." His face turned slightly to a smile as Tsunade backed away from them, knowing that she was about to blow. She jumped to her feet and Tsunade could see the life suck from her eyes, becoming so dull that the green changed to the gray from before. This wasn't good and Tsunade knew it. Sakura jumped forwards at Neji, grabbing his arm and turned, throwing him across the room. Neji rebounded from the wall and grabbed her arm, spinning her around, giving himself just enough time to grab her and hold her still.

Sakura screamed with a fury that Tsunade had never seen before, kicking and clawing, doing everything in her power to get away from the Hyuga. Tsunade ran up, putting her arms under Sakura's, grabbing her wrists to hold her hands and arms still. Neji released her and Tsunade fell to her knees, Sakura's legs trapped beneath hers. "What do you see?"

Neji's eye twitched as he stepped back, the eye watching him from around her heart. "It's watching me. It's pissed off and it's watching me. Tsunade-sama, there's something horribly wrong here. We need to get this figured out." Tsunade nodded. "Sakura, you need to calm down. We're not going to hurt you, I just needed to see this for myself." Sakura turned a little, finding Tsunade's arm almost near her head and tried her best to bite. Tsunade instinctively twisted her arms around, sending Sakura face first into the floor and grabbed her arms. "How did she calm down last time?" Neji watched as Sakura tried to flip the sennin over, without success. "Kakashi hugged her." Tsunade looked down and pressed her chest against Sakura's back and tried to get close to her ear. "Sakura, It's alright! We're here with you and we want to help!" Tsunade tried to keep her voice calm when Sakura spat at her. "Fuck you! What kind of chicken shit pussies are you, a legendary sennin and a Hyuga against one young woman! Aren't you all so strong!" She burst into laughter, startling Tsunade away from her and Neji ran forwards, pressing her head over his shoulder, whispering into her ear. "Sakura, please calm down. It's alright, we want to help you." Neji was surprised when she pulled her head back slightly, then bashed him in the face, breaking his nose with her forehead.

It was only a second before Tsunade was on her, pinning her to the floor again. "Neji, Shizune," She peered out from behind the cabinet in the corner, "Go find Kakashi! Naruto, Sai, I don't care, just bring them here!" They nodded and erupted through the window, running to search the town.

Neji was the first to find any of them. "Sai, Hokage's office, emergency with Sakura." Sai nodded and flew off at light speed.

Shizune found Naruto just after, sending him just as fast. They arrived at about the same time, as Naruto had been a little closer. They looked in through the broken window to see Sakura doing her best to tear Tsunade apart, bashing in the older woman's face with the back of her head. "Let go of me you bitch!!" She turned and Naruto scrambled in, grabbing a tissue from her desk and holding it over the Hokage's nose. "Sakura! What are you doing?!" Sakura looked up and Tsunade lipped out so that Sakura couldn't hear. 'Hug her.' Naruto nodded and Tsunade jumped as Naruto reached out, wrapping his arms around her, running his hand over her hair. "Sakura, it's okay. I'm here, you know that I won't let anything happen to you..." He mumbled calming words into her ear and she just stared forwards, the green seeped back into her eyes like ink, the drain in her pupil drained away the gunky gray and she fell back to herself. Sai noticed that even though she was keeping her chin on Naruto's shoulder that she looked dead forwards, into his eyes. He walked up and put his hand on her shoulder, not bothering to smile for her and brought his forehead to hers. "Sakura, you need to calm down. This isn't you." Naruto turned, seeing Sai so close and frowned. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm really tired..." She mumbled and Sai nodded. "Naruto will be here for you. You know you're safer with him than with anyone." Sakura nodded, closing her eyes and was instantly asleep. Sai stood, stepping back and his eyebrows furrowed through his thoughts. "Tsunade-sama, what just happened?" Naruto was furious that his tone was so calm and nearly growled before Sai was there, clapping his hand over his mouth. Naruto realized he was afraid of waking the kunoichi and nodded, feeling at least a little better about things. He crossed his legs, pulling her to his lap and rocked back and forth, humming softly to her.

It was at this time that Kakashi and Neji came in. Kakashi first noticed the blood pouring down the Hokage's face, then looked down to the sleeping nin on the floor, Naruto acting out as if a lover or brother. He then noticed Sai, the look on his face was nothing less than terrified, to his trained eye. "What's happened?"

After a while Naruto had taken Sakura to the next room, laying her down on a cot that Shizune had gotten out. He lightly kissed her forehead before backing out of the room, watching as she snuggled the blankets under her chin. It was nearly a tiptoe, the way he crept back to the Hokage's office. "What was that?" Neji looked over at Naruto and frowned. "No wonder he's always loved her, it was a kindred soul." Tsunade looked over and gritted her teeth, letting Neji know in the most efficient way to STFU.

Naruto looked between them, his anger at the whole of the situation reaching his peak. "What is happening to her?! Why did Sakura break you and Neji's noses?" He didn't notice the shock that radiated from Kakashi at the words. "You started it on purpose, so that you could see it with your own eyes, and give Neji another chance to see if he could stop it, didn't you?" Tsunade nodded, shoving a tissue in her nose almost thoughtlessly. "I know, after the warnings it was stupid, but I needed to know what we were dealing with. I think we need to confiscate the locket. The voice told her that with it around her neck now she was alone. If we remove the physical essence of Sasuke, it may stop." Naruto visibly ticked at the words, turning to her furious. "Physical essence?! She said that whatever was in the locket was what was in her brain!" Neji nodded. "It's a small bone fragment from Sasuke."

"Don't you dare take that away from her!" Naruto's face was more shocked than angered, but they all knew that wouldn't last long. Kakashi nodded as well. "Tsunade-sama, I have to agree. If you take it away, the chances are that her rage will continue till she either dies or drops from exhaustion." Tsunade nodded. "What we need is for her to have one of you with her, in case this happens again." Naruto nodded. "I stopped it this time, I can do it again." Tsunade looked at him and shook her head. "You didn't even notice, did you? You weren't the one who calmed her down. Out of the three of you, you're the only one who hasn't calmed her down." Naruto looked over at Kakashi, who looked away, feeling a little guilty for helping that first day. Naruto looked over at Sai who just looked at the Hokage, without emotion, giving a false feeling of normality. "Hokage-sama, Is this appropriate?" Tsunade froze, looking at the nin almost blankly. "Seriously? You travel to other countries together, sleep in the same tent, and I know at some point in time all members of a group will see the others naked, even if just on accident." Kakashi shook his head and Sai nodded in return. Kakashi cringed as he returned his face to the Hokage. "At least with this there's a good explanation for everything. This is a mission, until we get this straightened out, there's to be no missions for any of you. God forbid if any of you didn't return, she'd probably kill us all." Tsunade looked down at her hands, willing them to stop shaking. She didn't want to admit how much this was really getting to her and Kakashi sighed, noticing the actions. "Tsunade, maybe you should rest a little as well. This can't be much easier on you than it is on me."

"What about me?!" Naruto growled at him and Kakashi looked down, enough irritation radiating from the one visible eye to easily make up for a second, or maybe third eye. "Naruto, there's no way that you'll understand what I mean till you have students of your own. When you get to be like us, when you've given up on having a wife, children, eventually the students that you teach become your family. Sakura is like a daughter to us both. You and Sasuke have been like that to me as well." Kakashi looked over, as if trying to see her through the wall. "I can't stand to lose another one. I thought she was doing better. Neji, do you have any idea what's causing this?" Neji looked over to Tsunade who frowned. "Sorry Kakashi, for now it's classified. If we're right on this, there could be a lot of trouble in Konoha." Kakashi frowned. "Naruto, Sai, you decide what to do from here, but I need to talk to Tsunade- alone." He looked over at Neji, who looked down at Tsunade, who nodded. "It's fine, Hyuga. Keep those two from killing each other, or from waking her up, alright?" Her tone was tired and Neji knew that what Kakashi said earlier was right. She needed a rest.

He was out, closing the door in a second.

"You can't keep it from me, Tsunade. What's wrong with her? Why is it trouble for Konoha?" Tsunade looked at him, her gaze narrowing dangerously. "I can use Sharingan to get the information from you." Tsunade stood, slamming her hands on her desk. "Don't you dare threaten me!" Kakashi sighed, looking over at the wall again. "You'll have someone to talk to about it." Tsunade thought about this one. Kakashi had just as much of a right to know about it as she did. "Fine, but you better sit down."

It was a few minutes later that Kakashi walked out, seeing the boys sitting down in the hall, Neji sitting between them. "You decide what was going on?" They could tell that whatever it was, it was highly problematic. Kakashi's hands were shaking, he couldn't pull his eyes away from the door. "I think they decided that you all should move in together. Get a house or something." Kakashi looked down at them, frowning. "Isn't that a little drastic?" Naruto shrugged. "I think that was just Neji's idea. I said that she should move in with me, Sai said she should stay with you. Apparently I'm not responsible enough to take care of her." Kakashi raised his eyebrow, slightly amused at the situation. "Sakura's place is bigger than ours. Maybe we should stay in turn with her, just until they prove this wrong." Kakashi turned to the door again, the thought of whatever Tsunade had said sticking in his mind. "Or maybe she should stay with Naruto." Sai looked up, curious about the change in heart. "Someone to help take care of him." Naruto frowned, pouting. "Kakashi-sensei, don't be like that."

Neji knew what was going on, he was the original one to suggest the thought to the Hokage. He knew the thoughts that had to be flowing through his head. "Kakashi, she'll be alright, one way or the other. Just remember that." Kakashi nodded, turning and walking into the room. He sat beside her, watching her face, wondering what he could do, what was left to be done. They may never know, it may never completely come to light, there weren't tests for this sort of thing after all. Maybe, even if it were true, She could still have a normal life...

Kakashi gritted his teeth, hating the whole of the situation. They would find a way to get the truth, they would have to. They would have to without telling Naruto. If he found out... "Sakura, if you can hear me, please, keep control. Don't let it out, alright?" Kakashi stood, chuckling at himself. He was acting like an old fogey, almost like a father. He turned, shaking his head and pulling out his book. "Tonight, we all stay at Sakura's. No ideas, Naruto, we stay in the living room." Naruto nodded, knowing that it was going to be an amusing night.

Kakashi laughed quietly. Almost as soon as they'd gotten her into bed they'd both fallen asleep. Kakashi knew that he had the floor, as Naruto and Sai were leaning on each other's backs, snoring away. Kakashi looked through his book, quickly losing interest in it and snapped it closed. He sighed as he slid the book into the opening of his bag and pulled out his sleeping bag, laying down to sleep.

As he woke the next morning he was happy to see that everyone was getting along. Naruto and Sai sat at the table, just through the kitchen door, Naruto grumbling about not having enough fun the night before and Sai kept his eyes focused on Sakura, who Kakashi could hear making breakfast. "I'm sorry, Sai! I really didn't mean to act out so much! Is Tsunade-sensei really mad at me?" Kakashi frowned. With everything that had happened he figured Sakura would be a little more distressed at what had happened. He stood, feeling his back crack and sighed, walking out to the kitchen. "Hey, Sakura. Boys." He yawned away the last bit of sleep and they turned, waving at him. "Kakashi-sensei, are we going to practice today?" Naruto grinned, reliving his younger days no doubt and Sakura turned, smiling and passing out plates. "Kakashi! Sit! I made breakfast!" She handed one out to each of the boys, grinning and passed out the last one to Kakashi before sitting herself. Kakashi smiled as Naruto grabbed the chopsticks and called out. "Itadekimasu!!" He dug right in. Sai and Kakashi waited a second, waiting to make sure that Naruto survived the first few bites before eating.

Kakashi was surprised after his first few bites. "Sakura, when did you learn to cook? You didn't used to be very good." He looked up after a second, realizing what he'd just said and noticed Sakura glaring at him. "I've been practicing. I'm on my own now, I have to know how to cook, or else I'd starve to death!" Kakashi nodded, wondering if that's part of the reason she'd been so thin, forgetting to eat. She couldn't really cook till the last while. "It's good." he nodded, smiling and earning one in return. "Thanks!" She ate and Sai nodded, slowly chewing and poking at the food with his chopsticks. Sakura frowned, rolling her eyes. "I promise it's not still alive, alright?" Sai nodded. "Isn't this more of a lunch food than a breakfast food?" Sakura smiled, looking nervous. "It's the only thing I'm good at yet."

"Will you make us okinomiyaki more often, Sakura? It's really really good!" Sakura grinned, taking her first bite. She thought a little as she ate, eventually nodding and went to the fridge. She grabbed a small bottle and walked back out, pouring the white goo on her food. She took another bite and smiled, nodding. Naruto watched, then looked over at Sakura, who nodded. He poured the goo on and within seconds his plate was empty. "Sakura-chan! Will you marry me?!" Sakura grinned shaking her head. "Sorry, Naruto. I'm thinking about asking Neji out." Naruto froze, looking over at her. "Neji? What?! Are you serious?!" Sakura looked over and grinned, nodding. "Couldn't you tell? I have a thing for guys with no sense of humor and odd random abilities." Naruto frowned, not noticing the sarcasm in her voice. "I may have a sense of humor, but I'm full of random abilities!" Sakura watched as Naruto walked up to the ceiling and wiped off the top of the fridge, spraying dust in the floor. He then jumped down, grabbing the broom and swept up the remnants. "I can use my abilities to clean. Bet Neji never thought of doing that!" Sakura laughed, nodding. "I bet you're right!"

They stood out under the oak an hour or so later, as Kakashi had decided that practice was a good idea. "Sai, Sakura, you two partner up. Naruto, you get me." Kakashi reached into his pocket, sighing at the relief of this Icha Icha paradise special edition. Naruto sighed, falling into stance.

Sakura waved Sai a little farther over and grinned, falling into position. Sai nodded, pulling out his scroll.

It was later that day that Sakura and Naruto reached her apartment. Sakura made a few sandwiches before scarfing one down and stumbled to the bedroom, crashing onto her bed and passed instantly out. Naruto covered her with the blankets and smiled at her, the soft snoring lulling him off as well. He turned, but got the feeling that he was being watched and turned to see what at first appeared to be a ghost staring at him. He realized that Sakura was sitting up and smiled. "I thought you were asleep." She stood and walked right passed him without a word and watched as she went to the living room, breaking out into a stance for fighting and started into a kata. Naruto watched at the oddly fluid movements, before noticing her eyes were still closed. She was practicing in her sleep. He watched for a bit, wondering how long this would last before he went and sat on the couch, dropping off after a few minutes.

When he woke the next morning Sakura was sitting in the middle of the floor, her eyes now opened, but they looked cold. It was like the last few days hadn't happened at all. "Sakura?" She looked up at him, startled before closing her eyes. "Naruto, not now, I'm really tired." He nodded and helped her back to her bed, where she passed out again.

Naruto went to make tea, figuring if she was still tired that it may help, and was surprised to find her back in the living room halfway through her kata. He shook his head and walked to the phone.

"What do you mean she won't stay asleep?" Tsunade asked, bewildered at the situation. "She lays down, but gets back up a few minutes later and starts doing this odd kata in the middle of the living room over and over again. She's going through her third round of it now. She did this last night, I nodded off, but as soon as I woke up she said she was tired. I don't think she went back to really sleeping last night. As soon as I got her to bed she got back up and came out again, going into the same kata. If there's one thing I learned about sleep walking it's never wake them up, but she needs sleep. What do I do?" Tsunade frowned, thinking about this. "Naruto, when were you around anyone who sleep walked?" Naruto sighed. "Jarayia walked in his sleep. Pervert kept asking me over and over to do the sexy no jutsu. I was scared he'd rape me." Tsunade smiled at the thought, before nodding. "Don't do anything, I'm on my way. Call Kakashi and Sai as well. I might need your help after I decide what to do." Naruto nodded. "Hai!" He hung up the phone and instantly called the others.

Yeah, I know it's a little slow for my stories so far, but trust me, It'll get better soon. So, who can guess what's wrong with her? It's a freeby by now, I gave away a little more than I wanted, but to the three of you who haven't figured it out, it's going to be a blast!! Muahaha! (Sniff I miss Diedera)

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	5. Chapter 4

Hey! I almost forgot where I was! Lol1 no reviews yet... yeah, I noticed that...

Anywho, I just realized that I missed Doctor who... Oh well...

Disclaimer- Consider this claim falsified. There is no claims here. That's the whole point of this site.

Chapter 4

Naruto noticed that Sakura kept pausing in the middle of certain moves. She kept her hands moving so smoothly he wasn't even sure it was humanly possible by those without kekkei genkai. It was beautiful till she froze, halfway through a simple turn. She paused just for a second, but then continued as if it hadn't happened at all. "Sakura?" He moved over to the couch, moving out of her range and scooted across, going to the front door. Someone should be getting here soon.

It was a moment later that Sai walked in, his face looked dead till he saw her. He watched her movements without a word and walked over to the couch, sitting. He pulled out his pen and began writing something down, occasionally looking back up at her before continuing. Naruto sighed, looking out just as Tsunade came in. "Kakashi-sensei's on his way." She nodded and looked over at Sai, who was suddenly looking quite riveted. "Don't stop her yet." Sai spoke as he kept up writing. Tsunade looked at her movements for a second before nodding. "How much do you have so far?"

Sai looked down at his paper and cringed, looking up. "I have all of it, a few times, actually." Tsunade looked over his shoulder at the paper and looked up at Sakura, running and shaking her drastically. "Sakura!!" She yelled as the pink haired kunoichi reached up, punching her full in the face. Without hesitation she went back into her kata and Naruto looked over Sai's shoulder, over his now still hand.

Helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehel

"Sakura..." He looked up and noticed the kata speeding up. "Tsunade-baachan! Move!" Tsunade jumped away as Sakura swept through the area that Tsunade had just been in. Tsunade jumped up, running back at Sakura and sweep kicked her feet from under her. Sakura lifted herself up and fell right back into where she had been. Naruto jumped forwards and grabbed the locket around her neck. "Stop, or I pull it off." Sakura froze, her eyes opening and Naruto nearly screamed. She was looking at him but it wasn't her eyes, not anymore, the grey was taking over, this time they were getting even darker. Naruto stumbled back a few feet as her eyes watched him, the edges slipping to black. Sai jumped up and ran over, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Sakura, listen to me. I know you can hear me. You just attacked Naruto and Tsunade. You need to calm down. Her eyes just watched him, the blackness now taking over about half of the grey. "Sakura?" He watched, his eyes widening as hers narrowed. He did the one thing he could think of. He stepped forwards, pulling her into a hug. "Sakura." He ran his hand over the back of her hair, as Naruto had done in Tsunade's office. "Please, come back to us." She stood still and Naruto gasped just before Sai felt it.

He stepped back, the pain evident on his face as he pulled a kunai from his side. "Sakura!" He let the kunai drop as he pulled her in for another hug. "You need to stop this."

"Why? I don't have a single reason to stop anything. There's nothing any of you can do." She laughed, looking back down at Sai who was now horrified. The look on his face froze her and she just stared for a little bit before reaching for another kunai. She brought it up this time, to her own neck. "Stop it!"

"No! I've been in there so long!"

"You can't take me over! You're a figment of my imagination!!" Sakura screamed at herself, the verbal arguments against herself were terrifying the others, but Sai was loosing too much blood and could no longer feel his feet. She'd nicked an artery. He fell to his knees and watched as Sakura's eyes focused on his. Naruto could only see his back, but was truly terrified when Sai's fingers scratched into the floor, pulling up chunks of wood, leaving blood trails in their wake. "Sai!" Naruto jumped in, dragging him back. Sai couldn't pull his eyes away from hers, and Naruto noticed the plain out terror on his face. It was almost too much. "Sai! Snap out of it!" He slapped the nin, who looked over at him, sweat breaking out across his forehead. "It... it can't..." Naruto turned to her, the green returned to her eyes and she looked at the blood trail leading away from her. "What... What just-" She saw Sai, sweat covered and bleeding profusely from his side. Tsunade was against the wall, and Naruto was staring at her. "I- I'm sorry!" She ran through the door and Tsunade looked down at Sai. "Let me take care of that..."

"We don't have time. She needs to get that out... He's still in there and I think he's trying to take over." Tsunade looked at him, bewildered. "Sai, you're delirious. You don't know-"

"She has the Sharingan." he looked at her and Tsunade choked. "What?" Naruto shook his head. "It was just some genjutsu, she doesn't have it. She couldn't." Sai looked over. "Did you see any hand signs?" Naruto shrugged. "Maybe I was in it too." Sai shook his head. "I've been in it before. The exact same one. Sasuke is in Sakura. We need to get the locket away from her."

Tsunade sighed. "She may just not need to use hand signs anymore. She has a hidden secret." Naruto looked over and nodded. "Tsunade-baachan, you need to tell us what's happening. We can't live fighting her if we don't know what's happening." Tsunade looked at Naruto and frowned. "Many who fought you survived and didn't know your secret, Naruto." The words made Naruto's blood run cold. "Tsunade, what's happened? What's wrong with Sakura?"

"She has a demon in her." Naruto turned to see Kakashi in the doorway, looking over the situation. Naruto stared at him, chuckling nervously. "That's not funny, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi looked at Sai and shook his head. "It wasn't meant to be funny. We don't know when she got it, but I've talked to her parents. They said she's had this voice since she was a small child. The bit of Sasuke must have been trying to block it in. I do believe now, without reservation, that this was his will. That he was still trying to protect her."

"She used the Sharingan on me." Sai looked over and Kakashi frowned. "The blood that got into her system. She's been going down this spiral by herself, all the while the voice was weakening her mind. It was working out how to use Sasuke's abilities itself. She may actually have it now." Tsunade looked up from Sai's side. "Kakashi, that can't happen." Kakashi shook his head. "It's happened before, Tsunade. Just once, though, that a specific person's DNA was entered into another, with a success." Tsunade shook her head. "It can't!"

"Your grandfather." Tsunade froze. "Yamato was given a drop of your grandfather's DNA. That's how Orochimaru made him like he is. That's why he's the same only in abilities. The strength of the first Hokage was enough to kill most, as it is highly straining on the body, but Sakura had a hidden strength to help her. She has a demon in her that has helped with everything. That's why it told her that she was alone, now that the shard of Sasuke's bone was removed. It wanted a little more time to pull the chakra signature from it."

Naruto tuned out for a moment. Sakura had a demon in her? She was like he was... "Oh, Sakura..." His voice was scared and he turned, running from the house.

It was much later that she was found, by Sai who refused to go home to rest. He sat at the grave site, looking at Sasuke's name etched forever in the black marble. "Sakura, you need to sit. We need to talk, and you can't tell anyone that you know what's going on." Sakura looked up at him, her eyes stuck to his hip. "It's alright, Tsunade healed me. I should be back to normal in a day or two." Sakura walked over, sitting on the patch of grass above the Uchiha and sighed. "How do you know what's happening and I don't?" Sai thought before answering. "They're afraid to tell you. The others are scared you'll panic." Sakura looked up, her hands crossing before her stomach. "Am I dying?" Sai smiled and shook his head. "You're perfectly healthy. That's why this is so dangerous. You're not alone now in so many ways that you don't know." Sakura looked up. "Please, Sai, let me know what's happening to me?"

Sai nodded, looking over at Sasuke. "Kakashi said that he believes Sasuke was actually trying to protect you with where the shard was, and that Neji pulling it out may have been the start button for the rampage." Sakura was confused, and Sai knew it. "Sakura, you know how Naruto has the demon in him, right?" Sakura nodded. "So do you. That inner voice, it's a demon." Sakura stared at him, blankly, not knowing what to feel at that. "Sai, did Tsunade give you drugs for the pain?" Sai bent down before her and looked her in the eye. "There's more. The demon used the blood from Sasuke. It mixed him into you. You have his kekkei genkai." Sakura laughed at this. "I have the sharingan? Sai, I think you may have lost too much blood." Sai shook his head. "The sharingan was used on me once before today. Sasuke wanted to scare me away. Today, I saw the same image that he put me in. I saw the eyes he had, only in your head. Sakura, It's a lot to take in, but it's all true. It's not due to my injuries, rather the cause of them."

Sakura looked down at Sasuke's memorial and frowned. She fell after a moment, bashing her hands on the grass. "Dammit! Sasuke, Why didn't you strike first?!"

"Because he loved you." Sai stood, looking down at her as she looked up at him. "What are you saying?! You have no idea what love is!!" Sai looked at her, for once showing a bit of emotion. He was pissed, and she could easily tell. "Sakura, understand. I may not show every little thing, like Naruto, I may not hide one emotion with another like Kakashi, but after being around you all so long I do know what emotions I have. I can be angry. I can be sad. I know what love is. Just because I don't flaunt it doesn't make it any less real." Sakura looked up at him, her eyes widened. "You really do know, don't you..." He nodded, his eyes softening a little. "Please, don't underestimate me." Sakura nodded, looking down at her fists, balled on the ground. "Sasuke, why didn't you just kill me back then? Why did you drag it out like this..."

Sai sat again, this time beside her. "He loved you, and knew what you had. The sharingan gives the ability to control some of the beasts, mostly the Kyuubi. He didn't tell the others in the Akatsuki because he didn't want them to hunt you down. He didn't kill you because he wanted you to live your life. Now, there's only one thing to do." Sakura looked up at him as he smiled sadly at her. "You have to use the gifts he gave you. You have to learn to live. You have to learn to control the demon that Sasuke had hidden from you for so long. Care enough about the life that he sacrificed himself to save to pick up where he left off." Sakura grabbed Sai's shirt and pulled him in, sobbing into his shoulder. Sai lifted his hands, wrapping around her. He didn't say anything, figuring she needed this moment, a chance to release all the stress that she'd been accumulating, and they'd start later.

It was after a few minutes that Naruto ran across them and saw what was happening. He could tell that he'd told her everything, but couldn't really blame Sai for telling her. He probably would have too. "Guys." Naruto walked over, his eyes on Sai. "You weren't supposed to tell her yet. I think Tsunade wanted to." Sai nodded, but didn't take his arms from her, still sobbing on his shoulder. "She needed to hear it. She needed to know what was happening to her." Naruto nodded, not able to hide his understanding of the situation. "The later you find out, the harder it is to learn to control. I can help you out a little there. If we can find out which one, maybe Yamato could help too. Now, though, we need to get you back. You didn't sleep last night and by now I'm sure you're hungry." Sakura nodded. She lifted her head, wiping away the tears and stood slowly. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I'll try harder from now on, alright?"

With that they turned, taking Sakura back to her place.

Chapter's over! Hope you liked! Sorry it was so short, but I have to get to sleep and I think the raccoons are out! I really hate raccoons! They're evil! EVIL!!

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	6. Chapter 5

Hey all! Just reread, and now I know where to start today! I'm hoping to not have a panic attack at my hubby who's being a total ass. He's freaking out because I want to stay outside a little instead of hiding in the house watching the kids. If this chappy takes a little longer to get out than usual, that would be why.

Oh, and I'm doin my best, Hatake! (I'm still going to call you that, Miroshi! Lol)

Arjunaanja- Thanks! It'll all come out in time...

The battle begins!

Disclaimer- Naruto, everyone and everything in here is copy written by Masashi Kishimoto. He is god here, not me.

Chapter 5-

It was early the next morning that she woke, not really wanting to pull herself from the nice warm blankets. It was too cuddly here and she didn't want to go out to the cold house. She thought of Kakashi, sleeping on the couch and sighed, getting up. She knew that he rarely slept, and that her apartment was quite a bit colder than he was used to. She stood and walked out, making sure that he was covered before headed to the kitchen and making tea. She turned on the pink plastic radio she had next to her sink and listened to some music while she drank, smiling as the warmth filled her. It was actually fairly pleasant today. She stood, stretching and walked to the living room and smiled as Kakashi grumbled, turning over. She covered him back up before going back to her room. Maybe another hour or two would be a good idea...

She woke again and looked over at the clock. Six. She sighed, standing and ran over getting dressed before headed out to the living room. "Hi, Kakashi-sensei!" She smiled and he looked at her, smiling in return.

She had breakfast and tea served about half an hour later and Kakashi was surprised to find that she'd used her okinomiyaki recipe to make eggs. He poked at them a little as he ate, noticing that she'd used a few spices and covered them in cheese. "Why did you go through so much trouble?" He asked, curious as she sat to eat a little after she served him. "After all the trouble I've been putting you all through the least I can do is make a decent breakfast for you." Kakashi nodded, understanding that she thought that she was being a burden. "Sakura, listen to me. I want you to know that we've not been ordered here to watch you. We've offered. We want to help, so you don't have to feel like you owe us." Sakura nodded, sitting and eating.

After breakfast Sakura stood and cleaned off the dishes in a manner that Kakashi noticed was only a tad above obsessive. "Are you always so... meticulous?" Sakura nodded, smiling again. "It's the med nin in me. Everything has to be cleaned, and in it's place. After so much time learning your way around an operating table it's a huge problem if you don't know where your scalpel is." Kakashi nodded, watching her as she went about her daily chores. He offered to help, but she told him to relax.

After she was done, she went to her room to change into her exercise cloths. Kakashi went with her to the park, where she began running through her kata, practicing a few new moves. She smiled when she realized she'd finally gotten the move right after a few hours. Kakashi watched, pretending to read as she went through her daily routine. He never realized how truly dedicated she was. After about six hours of physical training they went back to her house where she made lunch.

After that she spent the next few hours reading, mostly medical books and after a few hours of that she made dinner. She sighed as she sat that evening, her first attempt at chicken looked pretty good. "I'm sorry that I'm so boring. I don't really do much outside of work." Kakashi shook his head, grinning. "Are you serious? It's nice to know that one of you are taking your job so serious. I thought only Sai practiced outside of work." Sakura smiled at him, taking the first bite. She ate slowly, trying to get the flavor and eventually nodded, noticing that Kakashi hadn't taken a bite yet. "It's safe." She smiled and he nodded.

Sakura watched as he pulled down his mask to eat. Somehow she hadn't noticed it this morning at all during breakfast. She was surprised when he looked up at her, his eyes frozen on hers. "Please don't stare at me like that." She looked away quickly, eating her food as quickly as she could. "I have to run out for a moment, can you stay here for me?" Kakashi nodded and watched as she went to the door. "I'll be back in about ten minutes." She smiled as she went and Kakashi sighed. He knew where she was going. Naruto was about to find out why he wore the mask. He looked down at his hands, turning them over before reaching for his security blanket. It was so relaxing and comforting to flip that familiar cover open and reach into Icha Icha paradise! A smile slowly formed over his mouth and for a moment he almost forgot about the second, lesser known characteristic he and his father shared...

"He has fangs!" Sakura grinned, pointing at her canine teeth. "It's like Kiba, only on Kakashi! It's crazy! They're all pointy, and white! He has the whitest teeth I've ever seen! They're shinier than Gai's!" Naruto grinned, his face a mix of insane jealousy for her seeing without him, and pure bliss for finally knowing why he wore the mask in the first place. "Sakura, you suck. I can't believe, after all these years you finally found out what's under that damned mask besides another mask! I was beginning to think he didn't really have a face!!" Sakura grinned and turned, headed back to her place. "I told Kakashi I'd be ten minutes, so I better get going!" She smiled, running off and waving.

She walked back in and looked over at Kakashi who was sitting on the couch. "So, what did Naruto say?" Sakura grinned and shrugged. "I'm sorry! I couldn't help it! When we were little, before Sasuke took off we actually spent a lot of time, and a bit of ryo to find out what you looked like. It's kind of nostalgic." She smiled and Kakashi nodded. "I remember. You three happened to catch me on an off day, I didn't feel like sharing that day." He smiled at her and Sakura nodded, looking over his face again. "It's odd. As many times as I've seen your face, this is only the first day that I've really seen it." She sighed, memorizing every little line. She watched as his eyebrow raised and she noticed that the small crinkle at the corners of his eyes were caused by the way he smiled. He only seemed to smile with half of his face at a time, probably forced. If he smiled with both sides he could end out hurting his mouth. Lip piercings aren't fun when they're accidental. After a minute Sakura sighed, standing and yawned, stretching. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei." He nodded, yawning himself. "Good night, Sakura."

She was a little surprised to find that he still had the mask down the next morning. Kakashi smiled as she came out and looked at him, her face lost for a moment. She'd forgotten about the house guests for a second and jumped when she remembered. "Good morning, Kakashi-sensei! I hope you slept well." She shuffled out to the kitchen and made breakfast. She knew to make another plate, as Naruto was going to be by in a little bit to switch out with Kakashi-sensei. After he ate she smiled and spoke quietly, not sure if she really wanted him to hear. "Kakashi-sensei?" He looked down at her as she spoke. "Naruto's coming soon. If you want to cover your face you may want to do it now." Kakashi shrugged. "There's nothing now that he doesn't know about." He sighed, feeling a little exposed, but knew that if he covered his face now Naruto would never stop moping.

"Hey!!" Naruto pounded on the door and Sakura grinned as she walked over. "Naruto! How are you?" Naruto nearly danced in. "Ino and Chouji became an item." Sakura froze. "WHAT?! She turned, running from the room. "Sakura?"

"PHONE!! One minute!!" She yelled, grabbing the cordless from the wall. Naruto grinned as he followed his nose to the kitchen, grabbing a plate from the counter and ran to the table, scarfing down his food as Sakura nearly screamed congratulations into the phone. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei." He froze, mid bite and slowly slid his gaze back to his teacher. "Yeah, That's about what I did." Sakura appeared out of nowhere, whispering over Naruto's shoulder. "No! I've been telling you for years!" She chirped into the phone as she walked away.

It was a few hours later that Sakura and Naruto found themselves at the park, leaning back against the tree, gasping for breath after practice.

"It's too bad that Kakashi-sensei and Sai wouldn't join us." Sakura panted out, wiping the sweat from her brow. Naruto nodded, looking around. "There's a lot of people out today." Sakura nodded, still trying to catch her breath and waved at a very tired looking Yamato. "Hey!" He ran over, waving. "Tsunade-sama has called for you two. Must not be a mission, you have any ideas?" He raised his eyebrow and Naruto nodded. He knew what it was about, but wasn't sure that Sakura wanted such news spread. He looked over at her as she spoke. "Yamato-senpai, I do have a question, I know that you've helped Naruto keep the Kyuubi sealed, can you do that with all demons, or just that one?" Yamato looked at her confused for a second before responding. "I don't know, I've never really practiced with others. Why?" Sakura stood, wiping her brow again. "I may need your help. Can you walk with us?"

By the time they reached the Hokage castle Yamato had been filled in with the details of the situation. Yamato had promised to do what he could, but with all of the differences between the two demons, he wasn't sure of what to do. "I'll see what information I can find, alright?" Sakura nodded, happily. "That would be greatly appreciated. Thank you." Sakura smiled as they walked in. Shizune met them at the door. "Sakura! Naruto! Tsunade-sama is waiting for you!"

They walked into the office, noticing the death glare that Tsunade gave them and froze. "Did we do something wrong?" Naruto asked, knowing when that look was given he'd usually screwed up big time. "Not this time. Sakura, The wound that you inflicted on Sai the other day has become infected badly. He's in the hospital." Sakura gasped, shaking her head. "Is he going to be alright?" Tsunade looked down at her papers and pursed her lips as she ran through the report. "We're not sure. You've been known to be good at these things, so I'm going to ask you to go and look at him, alright?" Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "That won't be a problem at all. Is there anything else?" She was a little antsy to go and see him. She'd called him each day to see how he was doing, and had actually called him this morning as well, guess this is why he said he didn't feel like going out. Tsunade shook her head and Naruto and Sakura bowed, turning for the door.

It was only a few minutes till they were there. After saying that Naruto was a guard for her, they allowed them both in. Sakura walked up to him, frowning at the odd sheen his skin had. He was glassy, and she could visibly tell that he had a severe fever. She could barely touch his forehead. He was at least 104. She lifted the blanket, looking at his side. The wound had turned deep red and had a green shimmer. She sighed, shaking her head. He'd been taking care of it, but the infection was internal.

Sakura held her hands over the wound, lightly feeling for where the infection was. "Naruto, Please get me a nurse." Naruto nodded and ran out.

It was about two hours later that Sakura had drained the infection, pumped him full of antibiotics and was busy trying to re-seal the wound from the inside. The actual spot of the infection had come out, letting Sakura know that there had been something in the wound. It's no wonder the other doctors hadn't seen it, it was actually hidden by his hip bone. "Sai, can you hear me?" Sakura held her hand against his forehead as he turned to her. "You have an infection. You may be here a day or two." Sakura watched as he nodded, then tried to open his eyes. "Does it hurt?" He shook his head, giving up on looking around and just laid there. "You rest, alright? I'll try and keep you comfortable." He nodded and fell almost instantly back to sleep.

He didn't wake again till that night, around eight. Sakura had gone home and was called, headed out almost instantly. Naruto stood by the door, watching as Sai looked over at her, his eyes were still tired. "Sakura, I took care of the wound. I don't know how it got like this." Sakura nodded, sitting on the chair beside him. "It was internal. Something had gotten into the wound when I..." She sighed, her hands shook lightly on her lap. Sai smiled at her. "It wasn't you. I know that. You wouldn't have stabbed me." Sakura looked up at him and tried to smile. "It's odd, I remember exactly what happened, but it was like I couldn't control myself. Like I wasn't in command of my own body. I feel terrible for everything. I'm just glad that you're going to be alright." Sai sat up, wrapping his arms around her. "Don't worry about it." Sakura sat still, her eyes wide. She felt the blush rush into her cheeks and looked over at Naruto, who stared at the situation, jaw dropped. He leaned back, smiling and nodded. "I'm going to be alright because of you. I want you to remember that." Sakura nodded, unable to get the surprised look from her face.

"We better get back." Naruto grumbled and Sakura looked over, nodding. "Is there anything you need before we go?" Sai shook his head before laying back down. "No, thank you. Sleep well, you two." He smiled before closing his eyes and fell asleep before Sakura could even stand. It must have taken a lot more strength for him than she thought. Sakura stood and walked over to the door, turning once to look at him. She smiled, the blush coming back to her cheeks and Naruto frowned at the whole situation.

"I can't believe the nerve of some guys! Using his injury as a way to get a hug!" Sakura laughed at him and Naruto crossed his arms, pouting. "Sakura-chan, can I get-"

"No." She raised her eyebrow at him and Naruto gave an exasperated sigh. "It isn't fair! I never get hugs!" Sakura grinned, shaking her head. "I know where you can get one, but I think you're still too blind to notice." Naruto looked over at her. "Blind? What?" Sakura waved as Hinata walked by and she smiled, waving at Sakura and blushed at Naruto, waving to him as well. Naruto waved, smiling as Sakura grinned.

Almost as soon as they got back to the house Sakura was on the phone with Ino. "Can you believe it? He hugged me! Out of nowhere!" Ino laughed. "Sakura, you know, you're not getting any younger. You're getting limited on guys. You're down to three now. Naruto, Lee and maybe Sai. With Neji, Shikamaru and the other guys hooking up, you're getting down in numbers." Sakura stared ahead, dumbfounded. "I'd take him if I were you." Sakura shook her head. "INO!" She gasped, feeling the burn of the blush again and Naruto shook his head, leaning back on the couch. "But, from what I hear, Lee may not be available for that much longer." Sakura jumped up, eyes wide. "What?! Who??"

"From what I hear there's a little thing between him and that one sand kunoichi, Temari." Sakura shook her head. "No way! Temari and Lee?" Naruto jumped up, staring at Sakura bewildered. "Remember, they're much more impressed by power. It wouldn't surprise me, knowing how powerful Lee has gotten.." Sakura nodded. She never even thought of Lee getting into a relationship. "I guess you're right..." She sighed and sat on a chair by the kitchen table. "I'm probably the only kunoichi in the whole hidden leaf village who's not either in a relationship, or has a guy picked out already." Ino responded to this with a laugh. "Well, there's Anko, but let's face it, who'd want to get chained to a wall and beaten to a pulp?" Sakura laughed as she stood. "I better get to sleep. I need to get back to the hospital early tomorrow."

"Already running to him, huh?" Ino joked and Sakura sighed, knowing that this would be all over Konoha tomorrow. "Good night, Ino."

"Later, Sakura." She hung up the phone and walked out to the living room. "Naruto, just for clarity, you know that Hinata's had a crush on you for years, right?" Naruto stared at her, wondering what Sakura had been smoking. "Did you eat something you shouldn't have?" Sakura shook her head.

Even if Sai wasn't interested in her, she wanted Naruto to be happy, and she knew that she couldn't. She knew that Naruto, as sweet and caring as he was, wasn't someone that she could fall in love with. "Tomorrow, after Kakashi takes over, I want you to go talk to her. You'll know, alright?" Naruto nodded. Something was wrong and he knew it.

After he was out, he did exactly what Sakura had told him.

"Hinata-chan, can I talk to you?"

Sorry I didn't update yesterday, I fell horribly ill and didn't get up for the whole day! I actually slept for about 20 of the last 24 hours! I'll try and keep up today, though, to make up for it!

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	7. Chapter 6

Alright! I feel horrible, recovering from a stomach flu, but I'm feeling better by every hour! Hopefully by the end of the day I'll feel like myself again! (Oh, I'm praying...)

Anywho, On with the show!

Disclaimer- Dis no, non, un Claim the ability to call something your own, having a copy rite or trademark on a specific item, image or story Er the sound you make before you fall over or do something stupid.

Chapter 6

Sakura watched the clock as she held his wrist. His pulse was normal, his fever was gone, and any sign of infection was gone. It had only been a few hours, but he was nearly back to normal. Sai looked up at her, curious as she looked over his chart. "How am I?" Sakura sighed, sitting down, the clip board on her lap. "You're going to be fine. You're not going to be on any missions for the next few days, Not like we've had a lot lately, but you should be back to on call in a week." She smiled, rolling her eyes at the on call remark and Sai smiled at her.

"Is Naruto mad at me?" He asked, causing Kakashi to look over, curious. "A little. He moped the whole way back yesterday." She smiled, thinking of the pout that Naruto had kept till he finally fell asleep. "If I can ask, why did you hug me yesterday?" Sai only thought for a moment before answering. "You needed it." Sakura looked at him, his answer hadn't said much, but it was enough.

The nurse came in a little bit later, with Sai's discharge papers. Sakura and Kakashi helped him back to his house, though he protested the whole way. Sakura got him to his bed, putting a tall glass of water on his bedside table and smiled, taking one last feel for his temperature. "If you need anything, Anything at all, call me anytime, alright?" Sai nodded and Kakashi watched the interactions as they left. "You're certainly taking good care of him." Sakura nodded, her eyes not quite meeting his. "I feel guilty. I stabbed him in the side, and if Tsunade hadn't called me he might have died. Of course I'm going to take care of him." Kakashi nodded. "You're a good friend." Sakura smiled at him, shrugging. "If I was a good friend, I wouldn't have stabbed him in the first place." Kakashi nodded, scratching the back of his head.

As Sakura ran through her kata later, Kakashi watched from a nearby tree. She was about an hour in when she heard the phone ring and jumped down from the side of the roof, next to her kitchen window. "Hello?"

She stepped away immediately, telling Kakashi to wait there for her. "I'll only be gone a few minutes, I'll have someone with me that won't make me angry, so you don't have to worry, alright?" He narrowed his eyes. Of course he was going to follow her, he couldn't risk her going berserk again.

She waited for only a few seconds at the bridge, running her fingers over the red paint as Lee came up beside her. He was obviously troubled about something and Sakura frowned, watching as he kept his distance. What Ino had said must be true. "Sakura, I need to tell you. I wanted to tell you first, so I called right after." Sakura smiled at him, already knowing what was happening. "I heard you're going out with Temari. Congratulations." She smiled, being slightly caught off guard by Lee's head shaking. "You're partly right. I have a girlfriend, but not Temari. Who told you that?" He laughed, suddenly making Sakura feel stupid. "Ino." Lee shrugged, looking out over the water. "Temari's a little closed off for me. I'm actually seeing Ten-ten." Sakura turned to her, eyes wide. "I thought she was going out with Neji!" Lee shook his head. "Neji broke up with her last week. They didn't want the same thing out of a relationship. She wants kids, and with the lower branch house thing, Neji's afraid to have any. I just couldn't believe it. They'd been going out so long, I guess I just figured that they'd be together forever. She didn't bother telling anyone. We went out for drinks last night after a mission, us and Shikamaru, and she broke down in tears. She told me everything. After that, Well, I took her to her place and before I could leave she asked me what I wanted out of life. We started going out right after." Sakura was worried she'd say that they'd already consummated the relationship, and was happy when he'd stopped there. "We're planning a couple dates, but I'm pretty sure that things will be great. We've known each other so long that I don't see us breaking up any time soon." Sakura smiled, giving him a hug. "I'm happy for you!" She whispered in his ear, soon after hearing a "What are you doing?" In a very unhappy tone over her shoulder. She turned to see Ten-ten staring at them in shock. She was even more shocked when Sakura hugged her, tears in her eyes. "I hope only the best for you two." She smiled, pushing them together. She looked between them and Lee frowned, wiping a tear from her eye. "Why are you crying?" She shook her head, wiping her eyes on her wrists. "I don't know. I better get back before Kakashi-sensei starts to worry about me." She smiled and turned, running back to the house.

She didn't want to worry them, but actually hearing that her numbers were down so much, she began to worry that maybe it would be true, maybe she would end out alone. The thought of spending the rest of her life with her only love being a man that died so long ago was terrible, and the terrible thoughts were the ones that brought out the demon. She didn't want that, not in the middle of the city like that.

As she approached her door she noticed her vision go a little blurry, the lines on everything seemed to double, and she frowned, knowing that her eyes had dried. They shouldn't be like this. She noticed lights appear from everywhere and turned, seeing someone mixed into the lights. She jumped back, staring ahead as the lights and person came closer to her.

"Shit! Sakura?! Kakashi! Where are you?" She knew the voice, and therefor who to smack when he pulled her in. "Dammit, Naruto! I said no hugs!!" He jumped back, staring directly into her face. "Sakura, is it really you, or are you..." She looked up at him, the bright silver lights seemed to move a second before he did. Realization hit and she was suddenly frozen. "Naruto, do I... Is it..." Naruto nodded. "You have the Sharingan."

Yamato looked through the papers in the books. Piles of tomes on oni, youkai, He'd even read a little about tenku before he finally came across one that seemed a little on the mark. He grabbed the book, his finger keeping place as he turned and ran from the library.

He reached the house in a few minutes, hoping that they wouldn't be out at the park. He was surprised to find Sakura with a cloth over her eyes, feet propped up and a very worried Naruto pacing her living room. Kakashi was telling her to keep her eyes closed and Yamato watched interested before finally Naruto noticed he was there. "Yamato! Did you find something?" Yamato looked over at Sakura and winced. "Did something happen?" Naruto nodded, walking over and patting her on the shoulder. "She really does have the Sharingan. Sai wasn't delusional, the demon didn't really put us into a genjutsu."

"Naruto, stop moving around. It's hurting my eyes." Kakashi pressed the cloth, pulling it from her eyes and running it into a basin with ice water. "You'll get used to it." He sighed, knowing that having the Sharingan wasn't fun. She was in for a lot of pain.

Yamato opened the book, drawing the other men's attention. "I think that I may have found out what kind of demon this is. You said it happened after the shard of bone was removed from her, and that you don't know when it happened, right?" Naruto nodded, looking at the book. "I'm willing to bet that Sakura died when she was a small child. Do you remember anything that would have killed you?" Sakura thought for a moment before answering. "I got sick when I was really young. Maybe two. I don't know any of the details, I don't remember. You'd have to call my parents." Yamato nodded, headed to the kitchen with the book. She yelled the numbers out to him and heard as he asked them many questions about it, till he finally hung up the phone, sounding fairly distressed.

"Sakura, there's a few things here that you have to know. Firstly, when you were a year and a half you got sick. I mean really sick. Your fever couldn't be brought down and your parents watched over you non-stop for three days. After so long, they fell asleep and when they woke up you were fine. They had a cat. They left the window open and thought that the cat had escaped. Truth is, you didn't get better and it wasn't a cat." Sakura sat up, the cloth falling from her eyes. "What?"

Yamato opened the book to the image of a cat, pointing. "This is called a Bakeneko. It's a cat youkai. It's known to bring the dead back to life. For some reason, it melded with you. That's probably the reason you were able to get the Sharingan from the bone shard as well. It wanted to bring Sasuke back, but the shard prevented it." Sakura felt her eyes prickle. "He could have been brought back?" Yamato frowned, shaking his head. "After the kind of life that he had, I'm sure that Sasuke wanted you to live instead. That's why he sacrificed himself to seal this in you. He wanted to make sure." Sakura shook her head. "He shouldn't have. That bastard, he knew that he was going to leave me alone, and he did it anyway." She rested her head on her arms and cried. Naruto put one hand on her shoulder, waving Yamato away with the other, just in case. Yamato did what he was told and took a few steps back. "Sasuke knew that he wasn't leaving you alone. He knew that we'd all be here for you. Me, Kakashi-sensei and Sai, he knew that we wouldn't leave you by yourself." Sakura looked up at him and frowned. "He left me to deal with this. I don't have any clue how to use these eyes. He was the Uchiha. I'm not worthy to carry on such a thing." Naruto grinned, shaking his head. "You have the Sharingan. If you wanted, I'm pretty sure that you could take the Uchiha name and carry out the second part of Sasuke's wishes." Sakura laughed, looking up. "What, to rebuild the Uchiha? We don't know if I can even have kids now, I was dead! Who wants to have babies with a zombie?!" Naruto wasn't sure if she was still laughing or crying, but either way it seemed a little familiar. "With you, I always would, you know that. You've always turned me down, though, not the other way around." Naruto kissed her forehead and she sighed, laying back down. "I'm sorry, Naruto." She fell quickly into a deep sleep, causing everyone there to be on guard. It was a few minutes later that she stood, nearly causing Yamato to jump. She walked into her bedroom and they watched as she laid down on her bed, never waking.

They both stayed there that night, worried that the Bakeneko would come out. They were happy the next morning when Sakura screamed out curse words as she tried to navigate her bedroom. She was able to find her cloths with Naruto's help as Kakashi made breakfast and tea. Naruto waited outside her room while she changed, smelling bacon waft from the kitchen. Naruto helped her around the day, while Kakashi and Yamato tried to find out more information on the demon, while Tsunade and Shizune went to the Uchiha district to try and find any books they could about the Sharingan.

That evening Kakashi came with little news, while Shizune came with heaps of books. "There was a hidden room in the meeting house! It was filled with books! Seeing as you're the last two to have the Sharingan, I figured that these should go to you, Tsunade agrees." She handed over the books and Kakashi frowned. "We're supposed to read all of these?"

"There's a library worth under there! A few hundred at least! Tsunade's trying to find the paperwork to give you guys the Uchiha district! It's about seventy buildings, but that way, anything else of use you'll have the ability to find." Kakashi chucked, hand on head. "So, she's trying to hide the inability to find everything with generosity, huh?" Shizune shrugged. "The stuff is everywhere. There's hidden rooms, artifacts that we have no idea where they're from, and it just seems kind of like... you know, as the last two with the Sharingan..." Kakashi nodded. He couldn't really complain. As they found the items and fixed the houses they could easily sell them. Sakura would probably want the main Uchiha house, Sasuke's old house, and he could easily be happy with one of the other ones. "It's fine. Just tell us when the papers are signed, alright?" Shizune nodded, smiling with the knowledge that he was seeing the good in this and not screaming (like she would have).

Sakura smiled the next morning. It was nice to be able to see. She knew that the Sharingan was still on, as she could see the chakra in the living room, but she was able to make out things. She could find her cloths, see in color, and had some depth perception. She wasn't about to try and cook yet, though, and they went out to eat.

They went to visit Sai after, and was happy to find that he was exercising when they showed up. "You're healing quickly!" Sakura smiled, but was highly disturbed at the fact that he couldn't pull his eyes away from hers. "I had a great doctor." He smiled, looking down at his tea, trying to pry his eyes from her Sharingan. "I'm sorry. It's just... It's going to take some getting used to." Sakura smiled at him, shrugging. "Now the only one in town that's going to be willing to spar with me is going to be Gai." Naruto shook his head. "I sparred with Sasuke, I'll spar with you too." He smiled, and Sakura smiled back, thankful for some piece of familiarity. "So, you never told me how things went with you and Hinata the other day." Sakura wanted to talk about anything other than her eyes.

"We're, uh, kind of, going out." Sakura smiled at him, truly happy. "Thank goodness!" She giggled, causing a confused look from Naruto. "I was beginning to worry that you'd be all hung up on me forever!" Naruto swatted at her shoulder as she burst into laughter. "I knew that you two would end up together. She's loved you for as long as I can remember!" Sakura grinned, feeling her eyes prickle again. She was really alone now, and she'd made sure of that herself.

"Well, I better get back. I think I'll be alright for one day by myself. Naruto, you and Hinata, Date! Now! Give me details tomorrow!" She grinned as she stood. Sai watched this and stood. "Naruto, you have fun." Naruto nodded, watching as Sakura shooed him out. She turned to Sai and bowed, leaving as well. Sai knew that something was wrong. He didn't like the way her attitude changed. She'd wanted to be near them, than made sure that she'd be alone. Something was wrong, and he wasn't going to let it stay that way.

Sakura had gotten back to her house before the tears started up, to her happiness. She didn't want them to see her crying. Naruto had seen that enough, and Sai seeing her crying just seemed wrong. She wanted to avoid that at all costs. She leaned down by her door and just let it all out. She was surprised a few minutes later to hear a knock at her door. She wiped her eyes as she called through the door. "Who is it?"

"Sakura, You know you're not supposed to be alone. Please let me in." She sighed, opening the door. Sai stood there, instantly seeing the redness under her eyes and the tear stains down her cheeks. He stepped in and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" She nodded. She didn't want to talk, to tell him how she was alone, after all, he was just as alone as she was. She stepped away, letting him in and went to the kitchen, turning on the lights. "Let me make some tea."

They sat around for an hour or so before bedtime. Sakura felt guilty, as he wasn't completely healed and insisted that he took her bed. He wasn't comfortable with this at all, mostly due to the fact that her cloths from the morning were still on the floor when he came in. Sakura had swept them up quickly, tossing them into the cloths hamper in the corner. "This will be a lot more comfortable for you." She ushered him over to the bed and made sure that he was laying down and covered him, her maternal instincts taking over for a second. "Sleep well." She smiled as she left the room, turning off the light. Sai watched, completely confused. She'd never been like this and it worried him. He reached down, taking the bedside pen and paper and drew out a small mouse. "Ninpou, Chouju gigga." The mouse jumped down from the paper, scurrying to the end of the bed before squeezing out through the corner of the door.

Sai waited a half hour before the mouse came back. It jumped to the paper, changing it's shape to letters.

'Drinking tea' Sai frowned. She was supposed to be sleeping too. Maybe she really did just need a little time alone, maybe he was intruding. He frowned, standing and thought before headed out. "Sakura?" He looked over at her, sitting still at the table. "If you wanted the time alone, why didn't you just tell me to come by tomorrow morning?" He walked up, waiting for a response. She didn't give one and after a moment he walked up, looking at her face.

She was asleep at the table, a cup of tea in her hand. Sai looked for a moment, picking her up and took her to her bed. He made sure that she was just as tucked in as he'd been and closed the door before headed back out to her living room.

Sakura woke the next morning in her bed and stretched, sighing off the last remnants of the sleep from the night. She hadn't realized how tired she'd been till she made the tea... She thought hard, but didn't remember going to bed. As a matter of fact, hadn't she put Sai...

Sakura looked over slowly, almost terrified, to find that she was alone. She gave a relieved 'phew' and knew what had happened. She got dressed quickly, headed out to the living room.

"Good morning, Sai." She smiled at him, and he looked up at her, smiling back. Sakura looked over his shoulder, one of his books open, and looked at the page. Sakura was surprised to find the page filled with so many small images to piece together one larger image. The whole of the image was the Konoha leaf, while there were faces of just about everyone that she knew that were the line for the leaf. Sakura noticed she was in the center of the leaf, while Tsunade was the edge of the stem. "Sai, that's gorgeous! You should frame that one, I'm sure that it could get a great place in the castle!" She stared, awestruck as Sai looked up at her, and Sakura noticed that he didn't put on his fake smile. It seemed more... right for him, though. "I have no interest in such things. I just draw for myself." Sakura nodded. She knew what he meant, but it seemed such a pity to have this gorgeous picture sit on a bookcase forever. She sighed as she stood, headed out to make breakfast.

She was surprised to find that he'd already made it. "Sai, did you make breakfast burritos?" He called in, "I hope you don't mind. It just seemed like the thing to do." Sakura laughed, making tea and warmed up the burritos, serving them. She knew that with Sai's personality, he wouldn't have eaten without her.

She stopped, thinking about that for a second. Maybe being shacked up with Sai wouldn't be that bad...

Hey all! Sorry I only got out the 2 chaps today! My hubby's a total dork and ran off, knowing I'm still sick, and decided to spend the day on his computer in the basement. Oh well, there's always tomorrow, for me. For him, he'll be lucky if he lives that long.

Anywho, I'm going right to the next chapter!

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	8. Chapter 7

Yay! I'm back and I'm surrounded by SPIDERS!!

Jesus CHRIST I didn't know that we had so many little crawlers in Columbus! They're everywhere, on everything! There's even one that's made a web on my bench! I'm about to scream!! EEEWWWW!

Dreamergirl92813- I will!

Anyway, on with the chapters!

Chapter 7-

Sakura ate happily, thankful that someone around her actually knew how to cook. As much as she liked okinomiyaki, it got boring after a few days. It wasn't that she didn't like trying new ingredients, but after a while, having everything coated in pancake batter made her feel a little... puffy. Sakura felt bloated and she wasn't the happiest about it. Thankfully it wasn't that bad, and she was able to get over it pretty easily, especially when she had the first bite of sausage and egg filled crepe. It wasn't quite as much a burrito as she thought, but she was nowhere near complaining.

"Oh this is so good!" She nearly moaned, her mouth full. Sai watched her, a little grossed out by the action, but Sakura didn't notice, devouring her half. She washed it down quickly. She looked over at Sai, wondering what they should do. She wondered if Naruto had gotten in contact with Kakashi which was quickly answered by a knock at the door. He only knocked twice, by this time Sakura had to fight down her last burrito, as it didn't seem to want to leave her hand. She looked over as Kakashi busted in her door, at least a little over panicked, and froze when Sakura waved from the kitchen. Sai stood, grabbing his bag as he ate one of the burritos on his way out. "Headed out so quickly?" Sakura asked, a little surprised, and Sai nodded. "I talked to Naruto this morning. He said that Kakashi was going to be here early, so I went ahead and made his breakfast too." He looked over to the counter at the share that Sakura thought was for himself. "Oh." Sai looked down at her, never faking his smile and nodded. "I'm going back into the rotation, so I'll see you in a few days unless you need me before then." Sakura nodded, a little let down. "Alright. See ya, Sai." He nodded at the door. "Sakura." She felt a little cold as he left. He wasn't smiling as much near her anymore, and she knew it. She wasn't sure what was going on, but it seemed odd to her. As much as he didn't smile, he seemed to be more like what she'd expect from him.

"Do you need a napkin?" Kakashi stared at her, and she looked up at him, frowning, shoving half of the last burrito into her mouth.

Sakura went all out for practice that day. She found herself at the park, fighting Kakashi, his clone, at one time she actually found herself fighting against Chouji for a potato chip (Shikamaru's greatest idea for a good spar) Finally she saw Naruto and Hinata, talking and laughing as they walked through. Sakura looked up at Kakashi and shook her head. She darted behind the tree, using the chakra from the sharingan to hide. She noticed the bright points of light at Hinata's head and knew that her Byakugan was on. She'd already been seen. She stepped out after they passed, waving to Hinata, who waved back over Naruto's shoulder. They both had an understanding on this. Sakura didn't want to make Naruto nervous, and Hinata didn't want him to pull away, so this worked for both of them. Hinata felt bad that Sakura felt that she needed to hide, but what Hinata didn't know was that if she'd taken a closer look at Sakura, looking more at her face than she usually did without a conversation, she'd see someone else's eyes on her. Sakura wasn't ready for that yet.

The Shika-Ino-Cho trio were enough for one day.

Sakura didn't imagine at all how hard it would be to tell Ino why she had Sasuke's sharingan. The thought had never entered her mind, but after it got to that point, she couldn't tell for the life of her why. She was confused at first by the look of horror on the other girl's face, then when Ino whispered the name of her old love she knew exactly what was going on. Shikamaru just looked at her, trying to hide his "Kai" over and over again. Chouji, being by far the best of the ninja, was highly intrigued for a split second, before finding something that was more amusing. Sakura was surprised at how grateful she was to have at least one friend that was so easily distracted. Kakashi and Sakura went for a small walk later, headed out to eat.

As they walked back into the house Sakura made the couch up, making sure that Kakashi had enough blankets before headed to bed herself. Poor Kakashi, he wasn't used to the air conditioning and Sakura had woken once or twice, worried that he'd frozen to death.

She dreamed that night that she was alone. Kakashi was gone, Naruto and Hinata were gone, Neji and Shino were gone, Lee and Ten-ten were gone, she was alone. She was surrounded in darkness. Sasuke faded in from the darkness, taking her hand, lifting her up. It was as if they drifted through the heavens, floating through he sky as he smiled at her, she felt absolute terror in every aspect of him. He looked at her through eyes that were now her own, and as he opened his mouth the voice that came from him seemed to weaken with the wind. "Sakura, I'm gone, you know that. Why are you waiting for me? I'm never coming for you." Sakura looked up at him and felt him there, like it wasn't just some dream. "I've never loved anyone but you, and I'm not sure that I know how!" She called to him, noticing the strength in her voice above his. He smiled at her and for a second she thought she saw his face turn sad. "Don't wait for me. You learned to love me, you can learn again. The first step is to not push everyone away." Sakura shook her head. "If you mean Naruto and Hinata, they were meant to be. I always knew that. There's no one for me though." She practically whispered. He shook his head, looking at her. She knew that it was almost up, that her time was almost up with him. "No! Sasuke! Please, don't leave me alone again!" He turned to her, shaking his head. "You don't understand, I knew that I wasn't leaving you alone last time, but you're trying so hard to keep me on your heart, that it's not getting out. You were always so annoying..." He laughed as he let go of her hand and she screamed as she tried everything in her power to reach him again.

She woke screaming, knowing that it had been a dream, but feeling that he had really been there in every little aspect of her being. Kakashi was there in an instant, patting her hand, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down, but it barely worked at all. After a few minutes he picked her up and took her to Naruto's house.

He was there in an instant, trying to calm her down as well, but it didn't seem to work. She was at least now to the point where she wasn't screaming, but they weren't sure that it was a good thing, as her Sharingan was twirling almost too fast to be seen and she seemed locked in some sort of death glare out to nothing. After a few minutes there they ran to the last one of the trio, Sai.

Sai looked at her for a second, noticing her sweating and her being on the verge of hyperventilating and did the one thing that he'd seen work before. He got his face an inch from hers and looked her dead in the eye. She focused on him, staring at her, and for a moment she seemed to stop breathing. She just looked at him, and he could tell that she was actually seeing him, the way her eyes locked onto his and after a moment she screamed again, throwing her arms around him.

Sakura cried there on his shoulder for a few minutes before finally getting a hold of herself and pulled back, shaking her head. "It was just a dream, it was just a dream, it was just..." Sai pulled her head up to look at him and was calmed by the fact that her eyes were still again. The spinning had stopped. "Sakura, I don't think it was a dream." She looked up at him, terrified till he answered. "The way your eyes were going, I think it was a genjutsu. I think that you were trapped by your own Sharingan." Sakura nodded. "Either way, it wasn't real. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be such a bother..." Her voice was timid, scared, and Sai didn't like that. It didn't suit her.

"Sakura, you're not a bother. I thought you knew that." She looked up at him, the tone he'd used wasn't like him. It almost wasn't even his voice...'I knew that I wasn't leaving you alone last time..." Sakura froze, realizing the voice she'd heard was Sasuke's. She looked over at Naruto and Kakashi who both looked at her, neither of them had noticed...

"I'm delusional!" She jumped to her feet, her hands on her head. "I'm fucking delusional, and I'm sitting on the floor, and why is this all alright with you?!" She looked over at Kakashi and Naruto, who stared at her, confused. "It's all in my head! I'll close my eyes, and this will all go away, and this whole thing will never have happened! It was all just a dream! It's all a dream..." She closed her eyes, passing out, and Sai grabbed her before she hit the ground. Sai looked down at them and shook his head. "The cat demon is trying to do something. She's being put into genjutsus. For just a second, her eyes spun again." Kakashi frowned. "I was hoping that I could help to calm her down, but it looks like you're the only one that can do it anymore." Sai looked over, confused. "What?"

"Except the first time that I was able to calm her, every time she has one of these attacks, you're the one who can calm her." Naruto nodded. "I noticed that too." Sai frowned. What, was he going to have to move into Sakura's house? The couch would kill his back...

He looked at her, taking a quick time of her pulse and sighed. "I think she's just gone back to sleep. She should be fine, I guess she can stay here for now." Kakashi looked up, worried. "Are you sure? It's not too much trouble?" Sai looked up at Kakashi, his eyebrows creased almost comically as he tried to mimic the confused look and failed. "I told her before, She wasn't a bother. I'd meant that." Kakashi stared at him for a moment before nodding. "I don't see what else to do. If this happens we need to get you quick, and a ten minute trip across town isn't working. My arms aren't as strong as they were ten years ago..." Kakashi stretched out his arms and Sai shook his head. "You go. I'll take care of her." Sai's eyes softened as he looked down at her and Kakashi watched his face for a second, surprised. "Yeah, let's go, Naruto." Naruto, being Captain Oblivious, didn't notice till Kakashi pulled him from the front door, headed towards a quiet path. "Naruto, this may be a little hard for you, but did you notice anything about Sai?"

"He wears purple pajamas?" Naruto looked over at Kakashi, who frowned. "No,"

"He's flaming gay?" Kakashi froze, looking over. "What?" Naruto sighed, putting his hands behind his head, kicking absently at a rock on the path before him. "Let's face it, he's obsessed with my penis, He thinks all girls are ugly, Kakashi-sensei, he's more gay than Tsunade-sama." Kakashi froze, looking over at Naruto half horrified. "Tsunade?!"

"Yeah, let's face it. She's a hardcore lesbian. She probably only got laid once, and it was so bad that she swore never to do it again. Wonder who the screw up was..." Kakashi bit his lip. "Jarayia." Naruto whipped around. "What?!"

"They were together for a while after becoming jonin. Tsunade actually broke up with him just after Yondaime became Hokage, which was the reason Jarayia started writing his books. It was a way to get over her." Naruto stared, a little wide eyed at the information about his deceased teacher. "She's actually hit on me a few times, but she's so much older than me. My teacher was his student, they were the same age. It's just a little too much." Naruto's jaw dropped. "You mean, she's not... She's not with Shizune?!" Kakashi shook his head. "Shizune's actually in a secret relationship with Baki." Naruto shook his head. "Baki?! The sand guy?" Kakashi nodded. "The same. Apparently she likes it rough..."

"GOD!! Ew! Kakashi-sensei, if you're going to say things like that bring brain wash or something!!" Naruto was about to claw out his own brain to get out the mental images, Kakashi laughing the whole way. Then he remembered why they were having this talk in the first place. "Kakashi-sensei, if you're trying to say that Sai's not gayer than Orochimaru-" He looked over at Kakashi for a correction, but got a vigorous nod, "then we just left Sakura with a closeted straight guy..." Kakashi looked over at him, wondering if he would actually have to sharingan his stupid ass, just as Naruto finally put two and two together. "Sai likes her, doesn't he?" Naruto froze, the words slipped off of his lip as his eyes showed the confusion melt away. "And the reason he's the only one that can calm her, she likes him." Naruto sat down, right in the middle of the path, the realization of everything being a little much for him. "When he first joined the team, Sakura told me he reminded her of Sasuke. After he opened his mouth that was erased, but maybe," He looked up at Kakashi, afraid to keep talking. "Kakashi, maybe that's what her dream was. Maybe that's why only Sai can calm her. Maybe somewhere in her head Sasuke is there, and trying to get her together with someone he felt was good for her." Naruto stared down the path ahead, feeling his head grow heavy. "Naruto, I think you're thinking too much into this. Sakura was the first person to try and help him get out his emotions, and even I've noticed, though he hides it, that it has been working a lot. She's making him feel, and maybe that's making him have feelings for her, After all, she's been there for him quite a bit." Naruto nodded. "Maybe it's a little of both." He stood, his face was very thoughtful as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Is this alright with you, Naruto?" He shrugged, looking back. "I started going out with Hinata a few days ago, I don't have any say in this, not anymore. Sakura saw to that." Kakashi watched as he walked off, trapped in the darkest recesses of his mind.

And damn, was that a lot of empty, dark space in there. Kakashi had to keep from laughing at the thought. At least someone in the party was going to be in a good relationship. Even if he was wrong about Sakura and Sai, Naruto and Hinata were great together. Everyone knew that.

Kakashi sighed, looking back. Sai would know that if he had trouble that he could call either of them. Sai was more capable than many of the other ninja, and if he could feel safe with any of them, it was Sai.

Sai took Sakura to his bed, laying her down on the tatami mat and covered her. He left the room, leaving the door open and went out to the living room, picking back up the brush from the mat beside him and looked back up at the half covered canvas. All of the thoughts that he had been busy pouring into the picture had been erased the instant that he'd seen her. He didn't want to admit it, but just before he looked into her eyes he'd been afraid. He looked in at her and couldn't figure it out. Was it because she'd attacked him before? Was he scared- He had to swallow at the word, hoping that it really was the right one, scared of the demon in her? He knew that many people had been afraid of Naruto when he was a small child because of his demon. It wouldn't be an odd thing. He had a feeling, though, that he was wrong. That he was off on his guess, but for the life of himself couldn't figure it out.

It was about an hour later that Sakura woke, thanking whatever god above her that it was just a dream, that she hadn't latched onto poor Sai to pour her tears out. She shifted in the bed, noticing that it didn't feel right. It felt like a tatami... "Oh, shit." She mumbled, knowing that the only person she knew that slept on a tatami mat was Sai, which would tell her that it hadn't really been a dream...

She sat up, looking over and seeing Sai painting a canvas white. He looked closed off, his face not conveying anything at all. "Sai?"

He looked over at her, caught completely off guard and dropped his brush for a moment before looking over at her and he sighed, putting the brush on the palette beside him and stood, walking over. "How do you feel?" he asked, looking in her eyes for the spinning tomoe. He sighed when her eyes were still.

"I feel really stupid." She murmured, shaking her head. Sai sat beside her, looking over her. "You shouldn't. I don't know what kind of genjutsu you were in, but if it was anything like the one Sasuke, or you now, got me in, than I completely understand momentary insanity." Sakura looked over, and noticed again that he wasn't bothering with his smiling.

"Sai, how come you don't smile anymore?" Sai just watched her for a moment before responding. "I told you a while back to just be yourself, remember?" Sakura nodded, knowing what he was getting at. "You're being more true to who you are." Sai nodded. "At least around you. It would be a little hypocritical for me not to." Sakura nodded. At least the change in subject made her feel a little more comfortable.

Thanks all! Please R&R!

I'm not getting many now, and it kind of sucks a lot. Let me know what you think! (Actual constructive criticism is always welcome!!)

Please read my profile page! I'm looking for a little help!!

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	9. Chapter 8

Hey all! I'm still writing, you can still read this here! I noticed I had a total of like, 6 hits with the last chapter. I was a little put out at that. Especially since no one's telling me why they're not enjoying this one as much as my last fic! R&R!!

Anywho, now that I got that out, on with the chappy!

Chapter 8-

After the morning's excitement they'd decided to stay in. Sakura leaned back on the mat, her arm behind her propping her up, and watched as Sai took his brush to the canvas before him. She was surprised, as much as he never seemed to miss a thing, how much he was totally into the painting. It was interesting to watch as he started slowly, a line here and another there, by the time an hour was up he was into a full on sweat, his hand moving at speeds that Sakura had barely ever seen when kunai or Chouji's potato chips weren't involved. The lines slowly formed together, the bits and pieces seemed to slowly melt into each other as he went.

By the time he was finished he was nearly panting, as it had been over three hours since he'd started. Sakura looked at the finished picture, the details in it were amazing. Sai reached over, grabbing a glass of water that he kept there and chugged the whole thing, never taking his eyes off of the piece that he'd already put so much into. Sakura smiled, cocking her head to the side. "It's amazing! I didn't know that painting could take so much out of someone." Sai looked at her confused and she returned the look. "What?"

"You don't think I'm done yet, do you?" Sakura looked at the work, noticing that it didn't have quite the details of his other works and frowned. "I didn't know it took so much out of you to get one done." Sai nodded. "The one over there..." He pointed to a picture of a sakura tree stretched out over a brook with koi swimming, "It took me about seventy hours to finish. I've only been working on this for three. I add details over and over, till I feel that there's nothing left to be done. I can easily estimate this one to take about forty." Sakura nodded, knowing now that she didn't have the stamina for painting. "It's amazing." She stood, walking over to the painting that he'd pointed out and looked over it. In some spots the paint was thick, sticking out sharply from where he'd painted the same spots over and over, looking for perfection in his work. "Doesn't it get tiring?" She turned to him and he shook his head. "It's the only thing that I know that I enjoy. It's also the best way to practice for my jutsu." Sakura nodded, turning back and sitting back on the mat. She decided not to say anything else, if he wanted to speak more, then he'd say something, and this way he didn't feel that she was pulling him away from his work.

He sat there, looking over the painting for a few moments before nodding, and taking back his brush. "You may want to get back." Sakura did as she was told, not asking questions. She was glad she did, as the instant his brush touched the paint his hands flew feverishly over the canvas. She wasn't even sure how he was mixing the colors anymore, as there didn't seem to be any time to. The paint just seemed to change by itself, in one second it was green, the next purple, the next white. The only way she knew that this wasn't a kekkei genkai was by the fact that the paints on the palette seemed to slowly disappear. She looked right at the canvas, noticing the small intricacies build themselves in, the yellow sunny tinges on each little leaf in the forest, the small black and the million shades of brown that seemed to slowly define each little branch of the trees, it was simply awe inspiring to watch.

After another three hours Sai's hand fell, the brush rattling to the floor as he panted for breath. "Oh! Sai!" Sakura jumped forwards, holding his shoulder to keep him sitting. "Are you alright?" Sai looked over at her and nodded. "I kept it up a little longer than I should have. It happens often." He put his hands before him, almost in a bow and just tried to breath. Sakura ran to the kitchen and grabbed water, bringing it back. "Here." She offered, and he nodded, taking the glass gratefully. After he chugged the contents he leaned back a little, his eyes closed though his head was still faced directly at the painting.

It was a few minutes later that he took a deep breath, reaching again for his brush. "Are you sure that it's such a good idea to go again?" Sai nodded. "This is how I work. Remember, if I get surrounded, I may only have a second or two to rest between attacks, and I need to be able to keep up with the enemies." Sakura nodded, watching as he went into a third round.

This time she could tell that he was straining, his hand occasionally faltered, and he pulled back to keep from messing up the painting. Sakura stood, timing her reach and grabbed the brush from him after an hour. "That's enough." Sai looked back at her surprised, to find her with her hand on her hip. "As a team mate you should be happy that I'm working so hard."

"As your doctor, I'm worried about you killing yourself to draw a whole forest." Sai frowned, but stood all the same. "Alright, then. I'll make tea." Sakura watched, partially impressed, partially confused as he walked away, completely back to himself. She noticed, though as she watched him pour the water, grabbing the loose leaf green tea and getting it into the tea ball were a lot harder for him than it should have been. He was actually working out different parts of himself when he painted in stretches like that. The first time had been his speed, the second was his chest, and the third had actually been his hand muscles. That explained the reactions, and why it was so much harder on him after the second stretch. She sighed, feeling a little guilty at stopping him now.

After tea she smiled, handing him back his brush. "I see how you're pacing yourself now. I didn't understand how you were doing this till I saw how hard it was for you to make the tea." Sai nodded. "It's the way I've always practiced. That's the reason I have so many paintings around, but no one ever sees half of them. I change the ones in here about three times a year. The others I get rid of." Sakura looked around the room. She had noticed that many of them she'd never seen, but she wasn't sure of why until now.

She watched for the next few hours, actually finding herself captivated by the graceful movements as Sai worked.

By the time that night had fallen she looked over the work, knowing that when she'd woken up there had been nothing there. Now, though, she couldn't think of anything else that he could put on the gorgeous work to add anything else. "Are you really not done yet?" She looked over the work and Sai shrugged. "I actually can't see anything else that needs to be done." Sakura looked over it carefully, nodding. "Neither can I. It's amazing." Sai turned to her, looking at her expression as she looked so thoroughly at the piece and smiled. "If you want, you can have it." Sakura turned to him, smiling. "Really?" He nodded. "It's fine. I have more than enough." Sakura giggled, feeling suddenly shy and nodded. "So, what's to happen to me tonight?"

Sai looked around, frowning. "I have a spare tatami mat, but I don't think they're as comfortable as what you're used to. I don't want to hurt your back." Sakura shook her head. "I'd feel better with that than with you hurting yours on my couch." Sai nodded and took her to his room, pulling out the spare mat and bedding, which he kept immaculately folded in his closet. Sakura was about to take them to the living room when Sai grabbed the mat, unrolling it out on the floor beside his bed. Sakura looked over at him and nearly stuttered. "Sai, that's really not appropriate..." He turned to her, frowning. "If anything happens to you I need to be able to be there quickly. It'll be more efficient for you to stay here." Sakura nodded, suddenly feeling really REALLY homesick. "Besides, It's not like either of us has to worry about the other's intentions." Sai stood after unrolling the mat and Sakura nodded. He was right, there.

The thought of Sai peeping from the top of a building with Jarayia's spy glass, Kakashi-sensei's orange book folded under his hand was enough to pry a nervous giggle from her lip, causing Sai to turn to her again, confused. She waved it off, feeling completely stupid.

As the bed was made, Sai pulled out a pair of shorts and one of the Konoha t-shirts that Naruto had given him forever ago and handed them to her. Sakura nodded, and went to the bathroom to change.

She came back to find him sitting up, waiting for her. As she laid down, he followed suit, reaching up and turned off the small light on the book shelf above him. "Good night, Sai."

"Good night, Sakura."

She woke the next morning to find that Sai was no longer in the room and went out, finding the tea and a few of the burritos that he'd made the other day on the counter with a note.

'Sakura,' wow, he had excellent handwriting. 'Had to check in with the Hokage. Be back as soon as possible. Make yourself at home. Sai' She smiled, nibbling thoughtlessly on the burrito as she looked around a little. She knew that his home was spotless, but she found that she could actually see herself in the floor.

She looked around a little more and discovered that there were actually three of the bamboo mats in the living room, and two more hidden in his bedroom closet. She rolled hers up, trying as hard as she could to match his obsessively perfect rolling and folding. She was happy with it, as she laid it down on the others in the closet and looked over at the blanket and pillow. She looked over at how Sai had his folded and shook her head. How in the hell did he do that every morning? It would take her all day...

She lifted the corners, looking at Sai's example and set to work.

Sai walked in about half an hour later and heard an exasperated sigh coming from his room. He walked in to find that Sakura wasn't dressed, but that she may have been tied up from what he could tell. "Sakura, what are you doing?" She looked up at him, not wanting to admit that she'd somehow tried to mimic one of the turns and her foot slipped, flipping her onto her back and her hands through the loop where they'd been tied for the last five minutes. "How do you do that every morning?" She decided was a better answer. Sai just stood there for a moment and Sakura could almost see a glint of amusement in his eye. "This isn't funny! I got a little stuck..." She tugged at her arms again, finding them just as stuck as they were three minutes ago. Sai walked up, putting his hands on her shoulders to help her sit up and looked back at the blanket. "Here's your trouble." He pulled on one of the corners and the tie instantly fell apart. Sakura jumped from the blanket as if it were going to come after her if she didn't escape it fast enough. Sai grabbed the blanket and whipped it out from the corners, folding quickly, and had the blanket just as pieced together as his in about thirty seconds. Sakura watched, surprised that she could see every little detail of how he moved.

Oh, yeah, she had the sharingan. She grabbed the blanket, unfolding it as Sai stepped back, watching confused as Sakura perfectly mimicked his movements, folding the blanket just as carefully as he had. She smiled, a little proud of herself as she stood, looking between the two blankets. Sai looked at her, and she nodded. "My first real use of the sharingan, and it was to fold a blanket." She laughed and Sai seemed to smile for a second, catching her off guard. "In that case, you should be a little happy. You'll have more chances to learn. We have a mission. It's only a B, but it'll be a good workout." Sakura nodded. "Finally! I'm not under house arrest anymore?" Sai shook his head. "There were a flood of missions in the last few days, and Tsunade couldn't keep us in anymore. Naruto and Kakashi went out last night on an A rank. We're so short handed that she's decided to send one or two man teams. She was going to send me alone, but after hearing about yesterday, she decided to send you with me instead." Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry if I'm in your way." Sai tilted his head slightly, something that he must have gotten from Kakashi when talking to her. "No, it will be a good chance for you to get out. I know that being trapped in Konoha has been getting to you." Sakura had to admit that he was right. "So, where are we going?" Sai handed her a set of cloths that she knew were his, and frowned, looking for her cloths. "They're being washed." He answered at her glance and she sighed, nodding.

She came from the bathroom a few minutes later, horrified. "I can't wear this!" She gasped, trying desperately to hold the shirt down. Sai looked at her, his head at the side again, as Kakashi would have done and raised his eyebrow appraisingly. "Why?"

"Look at this! The shirt's really too short! If I sneeze I'll expose myself! The shorts, there's no way to hide the sides of my underwear with how low they're cut!" Sai walked up, putting his hand on her arm, laying it down at her side and walked around her. "I think it looks good on you. I never would have guessed that your stomach was so well in shape." Sakura blushed shaking her head. "Tsunade-sama was expecting us over ten minutes ago." Sakura groaned. She knew that being tardy was something that not even Kakashi would do when Tsunade-sama was involved. "Alright..." She looked down at herself one last time. "Here goes my dignity..." Sai smiled at her, stopping her dead. "I wouldn't worry if I were you. You're probably going to get a few taken men smacked." Sakura looked over at him, eyebrow raised. "Hmm... Sai, do you have a thinner paint brush that I can use?" Sai went over, taking one from his arsenal and handed it over. Sakura looked at it and grinned more, running over and grabbing the blue and red paints. "I'll be just another second..."

She came out after about three minutes, the paint had been used as makeup, the blue and red she'd mixed above her eyes, the effect was almost like a sunrise. She looked to be wearing lipstick and blush, the brush had been used as a hair stick. It was odd how her hair seemed to spike out a little, but Sai knew that between the normal thickness of her hair and the water that she'd dabbed on it that it could have been much more so if time weren't such a major restraint. "What do you think?" Sai looked her over, surprised to find that he liked what she'd looked like before more. He knew he shouldn't say that, though, and nodded. It was odd, she seemed so much more interesting when wearing his cloths...

They walked quickly, Sakura was afraid to jump while wearing the shirt. "Hi Lee!" She smiled as he passed, then stopped, then drooled... Sakura grinned, looking over at Sai. "So, where do you get these outfits anyway?" Sai looked over at her and shook his head. Sakura looked over at Konohamaru and grinned, causing him to stop dead in the middle of the road. She looked back over at Sai and grinned. "Come on! You have to tell me! I think this is growing on me!" Sai watched as Sakura had more fun than he'd seen her ever have. "Hey, Neji!" She waved at the nin, who ran up beside them. "Hey, Sakura, I heard about what was going on. Looks like you're doing well, though." She smiled at him and he paled at her eyes. "Come on, I'm having a little fun here. Don't remind me of things like that." Neji looked for a moment before shaking his head. "Sakura, for future reference, don't use red eyeshadow anymore. The Sharingan pales it." She stopped, staring at him for a moment. "Neji, are you gay?"

Neji looked at her and did an uncharacteristic smile. "No, I'm taken."

They finally reached the Hokage castle a few minutes later, Sakura was smiling brightly again as they walked into Tsunade-sama's office. "Sai, what did you do to her?" Tsunade stared at the oddly little dressed Sakura. "She needed something to wear. She did the rest herself." Tsunade smiled, shaking her head. "What can I say, flaunt it if you can." She stood, and by the way her shirt barely held her in she knew that Tsunade followed her own advice. "Here's your mission. You need to escort the brother of the Kazekage here." Sakura smiled. "Oh, Kankurou, right?" Tsunade nodded. "I need you to leave within the hour. I hope that outfit's comfortable on you, there won't be time to change before you head out." Sakura paled. "What?"

"I needed you here half an hour ago. There would have been time then, but now it's a little late. I need you to be at the gate in an hour, I'll be there waiting for you with a little more detail, alright?" Sakura and Sai stood at attention. "Hai!" They exclaimed in unison. "You're dismissed." She looked up at Sakura and had to shake off a fit of laughter. "Sakura, do you own a black bra?" Sakura turned back and shook her head. "No!" Tsunade held up a finger, getting out a small box and shifted through it, handing her a thousand ryo. "There's a small shop next to the blacksmith. You'll both need to stock up there, but get one and put it on. Trust me, the pink doesn't match the rest of the outfit. On the other hand, why don't you have one when you have red panties?" Sakura blushed terribly, nearly running from the room. Sai looked at her, stepping back. "I think it's a good contrast." Sakura whimpered, holding the money tighter in her grasp.

She did just as she was told, putting it on in the fitting room.

They met at the gate exactly one hour later and Tsunade nodded, seeing them running into sight. "Good, you're here. These are the details. You're going to go to Suna, where you'll pick up the client and bring him back here. There is a group of nin after him. We're about to look over the contract for peace, and having him here is detrimental for us. If he doesn't get back here, Suna could probably wipe us out. You know the militant power they have." Sakura nodded, understanding completely what Tsunade was talking about. "You have to go as fast as you can there, so Sakura, you may need these." She held out her hand and Sakura took the small bottle without hesitation. "Hai, Tsunade-sensei." Tsunade looked up at the sun as she sighed. "You only have a week. I need you to go as fast as possible." Sakura nodded. "That's just how long it will take. We'll have Kankurou here in one week, you have my word." Sakura's eyes gleamed a little more dangerously than Tsunade was used to and she frowned. "Sakura, are you sure that you're really up to this?" Sakura nodded, her eyes turning almost wild. "Never more. I'll return with him. One week." Tsunade nodded, suddenly afraid for the success of the mission. "You may go."

It was well after nightfall by the time that Sai finally got Sakura to stop. She felt so free. After being cooped up in the city for so long, jumping from branch to branch, feeling the wind in her face was such a complete relief to her that she almost didn't want to stop to sleep at all. Sai finally got her to stop by falling to exhaustion himself. He stopped, the last jump caught him slightly off balance and he fell forwards, just missing the branch with his hand. Sakura caught him by the arm, bouncing off the tree to the next, leading down to the area hidden beneath the canopy of leaves. "Sai! Are you alright?" She asked and he nodded, panting. "Sakura, I need to stop for the night." She looked at him, sweat beads across his forehead and nodded. Not only was he dead tired, he was dehydrated as well. "Sai, did you go through your water already?" He nodded, looking down embarrassed at being caught ill prepared. Sakura nodded, listening for the stream she knew ran by here. She bent down, reaching into her pack and handed him a canteen. "Here, drink as much as you can." He looked up and shook his head. "I can't. You'll need it." Sakura shook her head. "I'm going to get more. Remember, as a med nin I can purify water easily. There's a stream about a hundred yards from here." Sai nodded as she handed the canteen back to him and he drank the whole thing quickly. She started a fire before headed to the stream, as she hadn't realized how dark it was down here and didn't want to lose him. She filled the canteens, four in total and knew that he must have really been over doing it to go through so much.

She sat by him, feeling the warmth of the fire much more relaxing than she thought it would be. She put his canteens back in his bag, breaking out a few things to eat and handed him a sandwich while the cup ramen cooked by the fire. It wasn't great, but it would be fast, which was what he needed now, to eat and sleep. She made sure that while he ate she got out his bag and before he went to bed he had drank another canteen. She went back to the water, refilling before eating.

She woke the next morning just as Sai put his sleeping bag away. She stretched before remembering what she was wearing and jerked her arms back to her sides. "Good morning. How are you feeling today?" Sai looked over, looking rather let down. "I feel much better, thank you." Sakura stood, watching the way he looked so intently at his bag. "Sai?" He looked over at her, obviously not happy about something. "Promise me something?" he just continued to look at her as she smiled at him. "If I'm out-pacing you again like that, please, stop me long before it gets that far. I feel really guilty about putting you through that." Sai looked up at her. She didn't seem the image of guilt. He nodded all the same. She sighed as she caught the move. "Thank you."

She packed her bag and they took to the trees.

Hey all! I'm feeling a lot less bitchy now, I've been having a hectic last few days, and since it seems that no one's interested in starting a fansub group, I'm going to have to find somewhere else to get my Naruto.

SOB!!

Only how long till school starts again?!

I have a song to recommend to anyone who likes dance music. There's this great song from DDR called Star Gate Heaven. It's really awesome!!

Anywho,

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	10. Chapter 9

Hey all! I'm still writing here for now. May not continue for long, though. I'm getting annoyed with spending hours a day writing to have no reviews in three chapters. I've only gotten 450 something hits in 8 chapters. Needless to say, I'm feeling a little ticked.

I'm going to post one more story after this one, but if it ends out with the same results I'm going to move my fanfic elsewhere.

FYI I'm only planning one or two more chapters after this. Sad, this fic won't have nearly as many hits as the last serious one.

Disclaimer- The art of using other people's ideas, characters, plots and twists, while at the same time rendering yourself un-sue-able.

Chapter 9-

Sakura made sure to keep at a slower pace. She watched Sai carefully for any signs of fatigue or exhaustion. It had dawned on her during lunch that she was much more intent on his wellbeing than she usually was. She found her smile as fake as his after they ate. "Ready to get going?" He nodded as they took off.

As expected, they got there after three days. Sakura was pretty sure by then that Sai was back to normal, though he was still let down at being caught off so early in the mission. Sakura bought another canteen on their way to the Kazekage's castle.

It was about half an hour later that Sakura and Sai stood before Gaara. He stared at them for a second, looking over Sakura and she was sure that if he had eyebrows they would be raised. "When did Konoha start giving out uniforms?" Sakura shook her head, grinning. "No! It's not like, uh, I had to borrow an outfit from him or risk being late here." Gaara looked between them and she noticed the same look on his face that Sai got on his when highly amused. "I always thought you'd end out with Naruto." Sakura shook her head. "Oh, no! He's actually with Hinata." Gaara tried to remember before nodding. "The Hyuga heiress, right?" Sakura nodded. Gaara looked over. "So, who is this?"

Sakura was actually thrilled that Gaara had remembered her at all, and they were there catching up like old school chums! They spent half of the day chatting, Gaara took them on a small tour of the village. "It's nice to get out every once in a while. After having Shukaku removed, I realized how boring this job was. I keep intending to go back to Konoha, see what's happening there, but I keep having problems with the small villages around here sabotaging. That's why you're here. We actually need Konoha's help to eliminate some of the troubles." Sakura nodded. "I heard we were going to be taking Kankurou back." Gaara nodded. "I'm altering that slightly. I'll be going as well. Don't tell Baki, though. I'll leave him a note." Sakura laughed, imagining the note that would both terrify and infuriate the sand nin.

"You've certainly loosened up over the last few years." Gaara nodded, waving at one of the families at the shops. "Being around everyone here, seeing how people are supposed to be, it worked wonders. It's easier to learn to feel when you have good examples." Sakura froze, looking over at Sai who stared at him, confused. "Learn to feel..." He just stared at Gaara, who looked back confused. "Sakura, is everything alright with him?"

"Sai?" She called as his eyes lowered to the ground before him. "I'm fine." his voice was flat, and Sakura really didn't like the tone. Gaara noticed the look she gave him and smiled. "You seem to attract the odd ones, don't you? Naruto, Kankurou had a thing for you for a while after the poison thing, and I must admit, I've been a little interested myself. They flock to you, huh?" He smiled lightly and Sakura shook her head. "Naruto's with Hinata, Lee's with Ten-ten, I'm actually alone there, except for Sai here." Sai looked up at her, doing something that he hadn't done in a while. He slid the smile onto his face. "I don't mean to cut in, but would it be alright if I got us a room at the inn?" He looked between Gaara and Sakura. Gaara nodded, holding out a finger. "Here, take this..." He grabbed a pen and paper out of his bag and scribbled something down. "Give this to the inn keep." He handed the paper to Sai, who nodded and bowed before walking off.

Sakura watched, confused and suddenly feeling like she was missing something when Gaara chuckled at her. She turned to him, smiling pleasantly. "What's so funny?" She watched as he looked back up at the retreating party member. "You really didn't know that he likes you, did you?" Sakura shook her head. "Sai doesn't! It's not like that!" Gaara smiled at her, shaking his head. "You also didn't know that you liked him, did you?" Sakura stared at him, wondering what on earth had possessed him to say that. "You don't believe me?" Sakura shook her head. "It's complicated. There's a problem with me that Sai can calm." Gaara nodded. "Does it have anything to do with the fact that you have the sharingan?" Sakura nodded. "At least you may understand. I recently found out that I have a demon." Gaara looked over at her, wide eyed. "Really?" Sakura nodded. "I don't have any control over it. It takes over, controlling me, and Sai is the only one that can calm me down when it happens." Gaara nodded. "That proves my point." Sakura turned to him, grinning. "How is that?"

Gaara's face turned dead serious, and Sakura knew that he was talking from experience. "When a demon takes you over, you're still there, you can see everything that it does, you just aren't able to take any control of your body. You hear, smell, but you can't seem to do anything else. The demon takes control by overriding your emotions, so that you can't control them. To get your body back, you need your own emotions to match or beat those of the entity within you. Someone you trust more than anyone else, someone that you want to hurt the least is the best person to raise your fears in the situation. Fear is a very powerful emotion. There were few times I ever had it before Naruto saved me. After that, I was afraid I would fail. That fear was enough to last me till I understood love. Until then, though, I feared for myself. I understood later that it was because, as was told to me when I was young, I loved only myself. After the village started to take me in, accept me, I loved the whole of the city. I feared hurting it in any way, as I had in the past. I knew, from how many times I'd seen it that if you hurt one person in the village, it hurt everyone and everything in the village a little, at least." Sakura watched him wide eyed. It all made sense. Every little thing he'd said made perfect sense. "Oh, Gaara, why did you have to tell me that..." She groaned, shaking her head. He watched her and smiled as she turned, looking back to see if she could still see the other nin. "He's probably at the inn by now. When you get there, just look at him and let yourself feel it out. You'll know from there." Sakura nodded.

"Meet me tomorrow at nine at the gate, alright?" Sakura nodded. "Thank you, I think." She shook her head, turning. "Uh, Gaara, where's the inn?"

She walked into the room, looking around. She was surprised when the girl at the front desk said she had the kage's room, but was a little more surprised to find Sai wasn't in the room. The girl at the counter had said that he'd come in. She walked in, looking around to see that the room was the whole top floor. "Oh..." Her eyes looked steadily around the room, the deep reds and strong yellows seemed to be abundant in the village. She looked, seeing that it had a kitchen on the other side of the room from the door. She walked in a little further, seeing the curtains across from the kitchen, on the other side of the bed. There was only one bed. She sighed, putting her bag beside Sai's before seeing the bathroom. It was huge!! She walked in, seeing a large standing shower, a bamboo onsen looking bath, a mirror on the wall that was the size of a large car... She smiled in the mirror, seeing how tired she looked.

She walked back out, re-seeing the curtains and saw the sparks on the other side. It must be a balcony. She pulled back the curtain and stopped, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She stepped out through the large sliding glass doors. "Oh, it's beautiful out here!" She mumbled more to herself than to Sai, who looked over at her, nodding. She looked to see him, a paper scroll and brush in hand. She smiled at his determination and sat, just soaking in the village. She noticed his movements, seeing each little flick of the brush, each minute detail that he was putting down on the paper without actually havening to look at it.

He didn't bother with color on this, just the basic black, but it still took about four hours to do. She stood, looking over his shoulder as he looked between it and the actual village. Eventually he nodded, sitting up from the position and Sakura shook her head. "You didn't sign your name." Sai looked back at her and his eyes drifted off slowly to the paper. "I don't really have a name. You know that." Sakura shook her head. "Not anymore. A name is a tie to others around you, something that shows your individuality as a being. We all know you, Tsunade-sama, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, even Gaara knows who you are now. It may not be on a birth certificate, but you have a name." Sai stared at the paper for a while, thinking about her words. "Sakura, what's happening?" She looked over, shrugging. "Come here, there's something I need to see." Sai frowned, wondering if she'd just intentionally ignored him. He stood, walking over and Sakura patted the seat in front of her. Sai sat and looked at her, watching as she steeled herself, sitting up with her head down for a moment. "I need you to bear with me for a moment, I need to find out something." Sai looked down at her, trying to figure out what she was missing that she'd need to find, and was surprised when she raised her hands, placing them on his shoulders. She lifted her head, her eyes closed till they were in line with his. She opened her eyes slowly, looking at him. She looked over every detail of his face, his soft eyes, the way his hair fell lightly over his left eye, the black abyss that looked back to her...

He started to feel that she was trying to memorize his face and watched, confused and a little surprised at the action. She lifted her hand to his cheek, running her fingertips across, taking in how soft he was.

Gaara was right. She winced at the thought, pulling back her hands and looked down at them as she pushed her hands to the floor before her. "Oh, how did this happen..." She shook her head, trying to steady her mind. "What's happened?" He could tell she was troubled, but was still a little shocked at her previous actions. "Sai, Do you feel anything for me?" She looked up at him, and he knew that he did. He had known for a few days, since she'd kept him from falling. She had done so much to take care of him. He had wanted so bad to be able to impress her and instead she had to save him. "Sakura, I'm sorry." She nodded sadly.

"I tried to hide it. I tried to keep it to myself. I'm sorry if I've become a burden." Sakura looked up at him, understanding the mistake. She smiled at him, shaking her head. "Sai," He looked up and held up his hand, cutting her off. "Wait, please. Don't tell me anything yet." She looked at him as he seemed to steady himself. He reached up, taking her cheek in his hand and looked up at her, the smile on her catching him off guard. He leaned forwards, lightly brushing his lip against hers, the feeling of static sparked her, making her hair stand on end and she wanted so badly to pull him in closer to her.

He sat back, opening his eyes and just stared at her for a moment before nodding. "Just once, I wanted to see what it was like." Sakura took another second to open her eyes and look into his eyes, and she was completely caught off guard to see him look so weathered. He was sad, the way his eyes looked at her she could just tell. "Sai, It wasn't like that." He pulled his hand away, placing it on his lap, preparing himself to hear something like what Sasuke had told her so many times before. She smiled, feeling at least a little happy that he wasn't going to be broken today.

He nodded, his eyes lowering to his hands and Sakura lifted her hand, softly brushing the hairs back from his face. He watched her hand, a little surprised at the contact till his eyes again met hers. She shook her head, this time he noticed her smile. He felt his heart speed, his chest constricting a little at the sudden strike of hope. She again put her hand on his cheek, pulling him forwards a little as she leaned forwards, pressing her lips to his.

Sai felt his heart nearly stop. He could barely breathe, the sudden strain in his chest was terrible, but he didn't want it to stop. His eyes seemed to close on their own as he was washed away in the sensation of this emotion.

She cared about him. Sai suddenly felt his chest lighten as she pulled back. He hadn't realized that he actually had barely been breathing and the warm Suna air was sucked into his lungs. He felt warmed all over. He finally regained the ability to control his eyelids and looked up at her, his eyes conveying the surprise and joy he felt. Sakura smiled, just taking in the look for a moment before the smile broke into a fit of giggles.

Sai just watched, knowing the look on her face was genuine. She was actually this happy. "What's so funny?" Sakura sighed, settling her eyes on his face again. "I didn't realize how scared I was! I'm just really... relieved!" She gasped through giggles and after a moment was able to calm herself. She looked back up at him, taking his hand and smiled. "Sai, you really do feel like this about me, right? It's not going to be something that only lasts a few days, will it?"

Sai looked at her, frowning. "I'm not really sure. I've never.. This is the first time that I've ever wanted to kiss someone. I don't want it, this to go away." Sakura noticed his re-wording and smiled, nodding. "So, what does this mean for us?" Sai shook his head. "I don't know. Does this mean that we're together now?" Sakura grinned at him. "If you want it to. I'm happy with that." Sai nodded. Sakura grinned at him, a blush crossing her cheeks. "Then you're my boyfriend, I guess." She froze, her eyes locked with his and her grin faded off to a smile. "What's wrong?"

"You're my first boyfriend." She nearly breathed out. After Sasuke died, she never thought that she'd ever have anyone. She'd been so absorbed into him that she didn't really realize that they'd never really gone out. "That was my first kiss." her smile faded again into a grin. She looked down at her hands. "It's odd. I feel more nervous now than I did earlier." Sai knew what she meant. "Yes, especially since we have a room with one bed and no tatami mats." Sakura giggled again. She put her hands on his and just smiled, looking at him for a while. "Do you mind this?" She whispered and Sai smiled back, finally relaxing. "Not at all."

R&R!!

Next chapter coming tonight!

Only one more chapter!

Laterz all!

jasminflower69


	11. Chapter 10

Hey all! Just to re-clarify, the end of my NEXT fic, not this one! I'm not going to stop putting chapters up half way through a story unless I get a mental block in the middle of the story! That would just be mean! I will be posting at LEAST one more full story here. Oneshots will go into my oneshot story collection. I'm still working on that one...

Any ideas on who my next couple should be? I'm open to suggestions! I really am stuck with Sakura as the female, but I want someone else to be the male lead! I've done Sai, Gaara and Neji, which really leaves me with the most done pairings, Sasuke and Kakashi. As much as I ABSOLUTELY adore KakaSaku fics, I think I'm a little out done with the works of leafygirl and other such magnificent authors with this couple.

I'm thinking maybe Itachi, or Genma, as the only other male that I haven't done that I think wouldn't be an insane crack would be Shikamaru, and the whole fic would be something along the lines of, "Hey honey, can you pass me my book?" "Sure, your move." Ooh, exciting...

Help me here! Either message me or review, telling me who you want to see! Saku? (I really suck at writing the other girls in the story. If you don't believe me, look at the 72 hour 1 night stand. Hinata's totally OOC and then some.)

Anyway, on with the show!

Enter Disclaimer of the day here. They should totally have a random disclaimer of the day site somewhere. I swerz.

Chapter 10-

Sakura was surprised she woke so comfortably. Sai and her had just sat around talking all night, till they finally passed out, looking out the glass door at the stars. Sakura could never imagine the other guys in the village being this romantic. It was enthralling. She knew that things back home would be weird for a while, but she didn't care. She needed this. To wake up next to someone, to not feel completely alone anymore, To know that someone cared enough to spend a romantic evening with her while clothed...

She gave into the feeling for a while, his arm draped over hers and just smiled at the world in general. His breath started to quicken into her ear, tickling her. Sakura giggled as she reached up, trying to wipe away the sensation, and turned, looking him straight in the eye. "Good morning."

Sai smiled at her, one of the many times in the last twelve hours or so that she'd seen a real smile and giggled again. "You look so different when you smile like this." Sai just responded in turn. "You too."

They got dressed and grabbed breakfast on the way back to the gate, as their time was nearly up.

"Ohayo, Gaara! Kankurou!" Sakura grinned, Sai's hand in hers. Gaara nodded, looking over at his brother. "This is kind of bittersweet." Kankurou nodded, shaking his head in amusement.

They made it back to Konoha about three hours before the midnight deadline. Tsunade sighed in straight out relief when they walked in, Gaara and Kankurou immediately asking about headed to the bar for the talks, to which Tsunade was happy to oblige.

"Tsunade-sama, should I still be staying with others till I find out more about this demon? Gaara gave me a lot of helpful information." Tsunade nodded, her face turning stern. "You damn near killed Sai, Naruto and Kakashi have been worried out of their minds about you. There's no way that I can let you stay overnight alone till I know you're going to be alright without assistance." Sakura gave her very little resistance, shrugging and sighing. "Well, I had to try. Sai, my place or yours? Kankurou, get your head out of the gutter."

"You can't make me." The puppeteer grinned, shrugging past his shit eating grin. Tsunade watched as her pupil turned to leave, her hand in Sai's. "Wait, Sakura, are you and Sai..." Sakura turned, nodding. "Yeah, We're together." Tsunade grinned at her. "Thank god. You have fun." The pink haired kunoichi nodded, waving as they headed out.

Gaara watched, his smile fading a little. He had kind of hoped... Oh well, it was too late for that now.

Sakura dropped her bag on the floor, leaning back against the wall as Sai closed the door. Sakura grinned, headed out to the kitchen. She knew that she had to call the boys and tell them that they were really alright.

Sai had other ideas, though and followed her. She picked up the phone and dialed the number, listening for the ring when Sai stood directly before her, his nose an inch from hers. "Oh! Hi Kakashi-sensei! I just wanted-" Sai ran his hand over her cheek, causing her to gasp a little at the feeling. "To, uh, call and let you-" Sai ran his hand down her neck to her shoulder. She felt the tingle all through her body as he leaned forwards, running his lips down the same path. "Ohh... Oh! Uh, let you know that I'm-" Sai kissed her shoulder as he ran his fingers under the shirt, pulling it over, kissing every inch or so. The feeling was nearly more than she could stand. She just stood there, phone in hand and tried to keep her breaths down a little. "Sakura?"

"Oh! Kakashi-sensei! I'm back, I'm..." Sai started to unzip her shirt and ran his skilled fingers down behind the small metal piece, eliciting a gasp from her. "Sai!" She giggled, pulling the phone a little away from her ear. "I'm on the phone!!"

"Exactly." He smiled up at her wickedly, causing a blush. "Sakura, I'm coming over." Sai kissed along the black lace across the top of her bra. "oh, Sai.." She almost moaned, this time directly into the phone. Kakashi spoke after a moment. "Then again, maybe you're fine after all. I'll talk to you when you're not as... busy." Sakura groaned, nodding. "I'm so sorry, Kakashi-sensei! Yes, I'll talk to you tomorrow." She heard the phone click and hung up herself. She looked down at Sai, trying to look angry, but couldn't pull it off. "I still have to call Naruto! Please stay away from my bra?" She pleaded and he nodded. "That I can do." He stood tall as Sakura frowned. She knew that it wasn't going to stop. She knew, but she wasn't about to tell him not to touch her.

She picked up, dialing the numbers, but turned, keeping her eyes on him. His smile turned way over playful as she watched him. "Hello?"

"Naruto! I was told to call, that you've been-" Sai ran his hand over the skin at her hip, causing a light groan as she pulled the phone away. "Sai!" She giggled again, before turning back to the phone. "That you've been worried about-" Sai ran his fingers slowly under the front of her pants, just looping his fingers over the waist and carried them across. Sakura watched wide eyed as he started to undo the pants. "I'm back and I'm alri... uh..." Sai pulled her pants down and knelt down beside her, kissing the skin right above her panties. "uh god... ss...Sai!!" She regained her senses and jumped against the wall, as there was really no more room behind her. "Sakura-chan, are you alright?" Sai didn't miss a beat, as soon as she moved back he was in front of her again, running one hand up her thigh as he kissed her hip. "oh god, Naruto, I've never been better... Sai, I'm on the phone..." Naruto's end went silent for a moment and Sakura was suddenly hit with bitter guilt. She reached down, her hand on Sai's head as she side stepped away. "Naruto, While we were gone Sai and I kind of... Well, we're together."

"I can tell." His tone was flat and she felt her chest constrict a little. "Oh, Naruto, I'm sorry..."

"Hinata just told me she's pregnant." Sakura froze. "Huh?" She stared, wide eyed straight ahead, wondering if she'd just heard that right. "She's only about four days, apparently her father noticed it during her practices this morning. I'm going to be a father." Sakura just stared. She didn't know what else to do. She'd never expected to hear this. "Sakura, I proposed. We're getting married."

"Why do you sound so sad, then?" She nearly whispered, worried that she'd really just hurt him. "Because she's sleeping next to me. I don't want to wake her. Congrats to you and Sai. Let's get together tomorrow, but I have to go." Sakura grinned. It wasn't because of her! "Alright! Congrats to you too! Good night!"

"Night, Sakura-chan." She looked down at Sai and frowned. "Really! What are you going to do when I call Ino tomorrow?" Sai stood, wondering if he'd taken his little prank too far. "Sakura-" She stepped forwards, running her hands in his hair, pulling off his headband as she crushed her lips to his. He relaxed before returning the kiss. She tossed the band to the side as he kissed down her neck, across her shoulder... Sakura whimpered lightly as his hands traveled from her shoulders down, cupping her breasts and ran his hands back along the cloth, finding the clasp in the back. His head lowered as he pulled the garment from her, tossing it over to the headband. He kissed lightly, teasing the pink bundle of nerves. Sakura tossed her head back, her heart pounding so hard that she could hear it over her increasing whimpers. She reached down, pulling his shirt over his head and tossed it onto the increasing bundle of cloths. Sai froze as she ran her hands over his bare back, going over his shoulders to his chest. She lightly ran her fingertips over him in an act of wonderful vengeance. He stood up to his knees, pressing his chest against hers, wrapping his arms around her, claiming her lips. She could taste green tea on his tongue as it ran over hers. She moaned into his mouth at the show of dominance, something she decided she liked.

His hands lowered, along her sides and over her hips till they went under the straps at the side of her panties, slowly lowering them from her. She felt the need to feel all of him against her and did just as he had, undoing the front zipper from his pants and pulled them off, taking his boxers off with them. As soon as they fell she reached back up, pulling him to her, their heads both fuzzy from the bliss of the kisses that he lavished on her. The feeling of his skin against his was nearly more than he could handle.

He picked her up lightly by her waist, sitting her on one of the chairs that were behind him. She looked down, confused for a moment till he reached up to her chest, rubbing her peaks with his middle fingers as he lightly kissed at the inside of her thigh. She grabbed onto the chair, tossing her head back, the feeling of him like this was intoxicating.

His hands lowered, over her stomach, around her belly button till they ran down between her legs causing her to lean back to grant him more access. He moved his fingers over her, noticing that her legs went rigid and ran one hand over to her hip as his other moved a little lower, penetrating into the deepest part of her. She moaned loudly, the feeling as he entered her was way too much. She jumped, gasping as he kissed her, sucking on her lightly. She felt as his tongue ran against her, causing her to relax a little. He moved his finger lightly, being as gentle as he could with her. She was to be taken slowly, not rushed, not feeling that she'd missed anything. He wanted her to be happy with her first time. He wanted to make sure that she was as blissful as possible.

His tongue slowly sped up. She felt a small pop, but didn't pay much attention as he ran his tongue expertly over her. She felt a pressure, just behind her navel that increased quite quickly. She stopped being able to think, being driven mad by ecstasy. Sakura gasped, her whole body tensed, throwing her over his head as he continued his actions. She tossed back after, feeling her body wrack as she climaxed, not able to breathe out the gasp from the second before.

She looked down, amazed at what he could do with just his mouth. He looked up at her, pulling back and Sakura pushed the chair back, pointing. Sai did as he was told, sitting in the chair as she leaned forwards. She giggled nervously as she leaned forwards, running her hands over his perfectly shaped abs as she kissed from his knee in.

Sai groaned as she finally reached her destination, kissing his tip. "I don't know if I can do this." Sai looked down confused as she ran her hand over him, getting a very rewarding gasp. "You're bigger than I thought you would be. I may not be able to get it all in..." She ran her tongue around it, causing Sai to run his hand over her hair. As she took him in his voice wavered, causing a smile from her. He was having as much fun as she'd had. She tried to take him all in, but wasn't able too. She didn't stop, though, and slowly bobbed her head. Sai's legs met behind her, separating her legs as she continued, and she could feel how much this was affecting her. The want was back already.

It was only a moment till she felt him throbbing against her tongue. He pulled her closer as she tasted the bitter liquid in her mouth, swallowing what she could, but she felt it dribble down her chin all the same. She backed away as Sai tried to regain his breath, his body tensely bent over her. She smiled, feeling the way his eyes looked slowly up her body. He met her eyes and slowly sat up, standing from the chair. He stood, taking her behind her back and under her knees, and carried her to the living room. He sat on the couch, wrapping his arms around her as she sat across his lap.

He kissed her again, across her breast and up to her neck. He stopped for a moment, panting out breaths as he tried to speak. "Sakura, I don't want to rush you into anything more, Maybe I should go, unless you want me to stay..." It was nearly a whisper and she smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his head. "You can't leave now. We don't know which set of cloths in the kitchen is yours." She smiled and he nodded, grinning back. She shifted, getting up to her knees and moved her legs across his, straddling him. She hugged him close, again bringing his lips to hers as she moved her tongue to his lip, then over his tongue, none of the heat from earlier had been lost.

She knew that this was getting to him as he rubbed against her. She kissed deeper, pressing her chest to him as he groaned and gasped at the same time to the feeling of her against him.

The slow, instinctive movement of her hips brought him farther up, till he rubbed totally against her.

"Sai..." She moaned into him and he brought his hands down to her hips, stilling them as he began moving, the friction against her causing both of them to moan again. He kept his pace slow as long as he could, the feeling too incredible and he sped up. This was too much...

He wrapped his arms around her as she whimpered, bringing her closer and he slowed, causing her to look down. "Sakura... Do you want me?" She nodded vigorously, unable to form any comprehensible words as she leaned down, kissing him. He pushed again, this time going into her.

She screamed as he pushed, causing him to stop. She noticed and moved up slightly before pushing him farther into her.

He felt completely euphoric, the rhythmic actions causing him to not be totally aware of where he ended and where she began. He never would have thought that this would feel so totally blissful.

He grabbed her, picking her up again and this time carried her to the bed. He laid her down, crawling up between her legs and bent down, kissing as he resumed his actions.

Sakura felt him go deeper into her, knowing that she couldn't have taken him all in if he were any larger. Every thrust made her bite back a scream, and though she felt the pain, it was so delectable, the feelings that he gave her. It wasn't too long before she felt the tightness in her peak, and she raked her nails down his back as she screamed out his name.

Sai heard her yell out his name, causing such a rush in him as he pushed once more, spilling himself into her. "Sakura..." He panted, feeling his arms about to buckle under his weight. She pulled him down to her, her arms around him and she kissed him lightly, not having the strength to do more. He looked down at her, the vision of her rosy cheeks surrounded by the pink halo on the pillow around her and realized that this was what he wanted. This was everything that he'd wanted.

Just to be with her.

Epilogue-

It was around noon when Naruto saw them coming over the bridge. Hinata smiled, waving at them as they approached. It was so common for them to head to the training grounds that they didn't even notice they were there till they sat down.

Naruto noticed the nonstop smile on his friends faces and grinned before realizing he hadn't told Hinata about them. They talked about the mission, about Gaara and Naruto grinned at the thought of Gaara hanging around again. "Let's go find him." Naruto asked eagerly and they all nodded as they stood.

Naruto walked over, smacking Sai's back, causing a deep intake of breath as he stumbled forwards. Naruto saw the deep lines across his back just before Hinata. "Oh! Sai, What happened to your back?"

"I don't know..." He stared at them stunned as Sakura giggled nervously. "Uh, Sorry about that..." Hinata frowned. "Sakura, did the demon come out again?" She stared for a second, seeing the lecherous grin creep across Naruto's face. "Well, no, it..."

Sai realized what must have happened and shook his head. "It's a personal memory, right?" Sakura nodded, grinning and blushing as Sai stepped to her, cupping her cheek in his hand and kissed her lightly. Hinata froze, looking between them and looked over at Naruto as the situation dawned on her. "Oh, so, do you have whips too, Sakura?"

Naruto sputtered, as Sakura grinned at her. "Hinata! I didn't know you were so... kinky!" Hinata smiled weakly as she nodded. "You know the old saying, erotic is using a feather, kinky is using the whole chicken?" Sakura froze, not sure whether she was more horrified or amused. "Yes..."

"I've found three uses for whole chickens." She grinned, quite proud of herself. Sakura laughed, looking over at Naruto who just blushed, nodding. "So, Hinata, can you spare some time for a few pointers and tips?"

Sai looked over at Naruto, Their skin paling to the same degree. " What have we gotten ourselves into?" Naruto chucked nervously. "I don't know, but I have a feeling that we're not going to be walking for a few days."

They all laughed at the comment, taking each other's hands and walking to town.

**The end**

Alright all! I know that this one was shorter than some of mine, I got off track with the demon, but by the time I realized how bad it was it was really too late to fix it. This was my last Sakura with a demon fic, I swear.

This is the last chance to author alert me, as this is the last chapter! After this I'm probably going to do a few chapters in my oneshot collection before trying another story! As stated ahead, if there's anyone you want to see Sakura with after this, either mail me or leave it in a review!

I'm glad I got a little more attention on this fic in the last two chapters, I'm much more tempted to keep writing here now. Thank you all for your reviews and for those who've kept reading, I really appreciate the loyalty!

Dreamgirl92813, thank you for your reviews, you don't know how much you've been my will to keep up writing this.

Well, till next time, Laterz all!

jasminflower69


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